


Welcome to Space Station 13

by balsa_margarita



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Space Station 13 (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Artificial Intelligence, Azula (Avatar) Needs Therapy, Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula (Avatar)-centric, Background Relationships, Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, Dubious Morality, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Happy Azula (Avatar), I don't like what the comics did with Azula, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mental Health Issues, Morally Ambiguous Character, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Past Child Abuse, Phobias, Protective Azula (Avatar), Psychological Trauma, References to Drugs, Repressed Memories, Slow Build, Space Stations, Swearing, Tags May Change, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Characters Regret Everything, Toph Beifong Swears, Unreliable Narrator, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Xenohumans, Xenophobia, everyone is trying and making mistakes, so I'm sending her to space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28412292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/balsa_margarita/pseuds/balsa_margarita
Summary: When she heard that she had been sentenced to have her firebending stripped from her by the Avatar, the imprisoned, barely-sane Princess Azula saw it as the strike that would finally shatter her into a million pieces.The random whims of the cosmos said differently. Very, very differently.Change comes unexpectedly, and all one can do is adapt and keep up.(No knowledge of Space Station 13 is necessary to read this story, though it makes it easier to understand some parts.)
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Azula & Original Characters, Azula & The Gaang (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 50
Kudos: 135





	1. Chapter 1

As Agni shone down on a courtyard in Ba Sing Se, Azula prepared to lose everything.

In the first truly lucid moment Azula could remember in almost a year, she had been told that she would be taken to Ba Sing Se and publicly stripped of her bending by the Avatar. “At least they aren’t going to kill you, even though you probably deserve it,” the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors assigned to guard her had said.

Azula had merely laughed. To lose her fire would kill her, she knew. It was all she had left.

“Stop being soft and end me,” she spat in the airbender’s direction as he faced the crowd. “You want to be merci-” She was stopped by a thick cloth wrapping around her mouth, nearly cutting off her breath. 

“Don’t you dare try and talk to Aang about mercy,” the Kyoshi Warrior next to her hissed. “You don’t know what it means, you bitch.” 

The Avatar stepped forward, his expression now determined. Azula wanted to fight, she wanted to escape, but she was chi-blocked and gagged and shackled, forced to kneel on the cold stone tiles, with a thousand eager witnesses there to watch her receive her punishment.

It reminded her of public executions in the Fire Nation, how the spectators cheered as her father incinerated those who dared to defy him. 

“Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, you have been found guilty of the following crimes...” Azula shut out the announcer’s voice. She didn’t need to hear all her failures listed again. She focused inward, trying to order her mind, to prepare herself for what she knew was about to happen.

“Please don’t try to resist,” the Avatar had said to her, that morning. “It will only make things worse.” 

They both knew she would try to fight regardless.

There was silence, then the Avatar reached out, placing one hand on her chest and the other on her forehead, tilting both their heads towards the sky. It reminded her of Father again. Of how he had burned Zuko, made an example of him. This was no different.

But she was not weak. She would fight.

And then the Avatar’s eyes glowed, and her will shattered like glass hit by a stone. 

She was an unfurled scroll under the cold sunlight of the winter solstice. All the flaws, all the pain that she had tried to hide and deny, laid bare.

_ You can’t treat me like this! You can’t treat me like Zuko! _

She was drowning in a river of disordered memories. Mai and Ty Lee at the Boiling Rock. Her father’s brutal expectations. Zuko’s bandaged face after the Agni Kai. Her mother in the mirror. The Avatar’s waterbender trapping her in ice, freezing her.

_ No, no, no… stop... _

She tried to scream, but there was no sound. She felt cold, abandoned. Alone.

_ Please, no! _

The airbender’s expression was unreadable. Was that pity in his eyes? Or something else, an emotion Azula couldn’t name?

Her mind was still swirling, her limbs were still slowly freezing, but now there was something else, a pull from… somewhere. Azula reached for it, letting everything else fade away.

_I want to escape._ _Let me out, let me out, let me out..._

Azula thought she heard panicked voices and gasps, but then everything went completely black and she was drawn into the abyss.

* * *

Medbay had been busy that morning, and none of the staff had gotten a break. Rick Thompson had just finished his third emergency appendix removal of the week - how the hell so many people were suffering from failure of that particular organ was beyond him, but as the best surgeon on the station other than the chief medical officer it was his responsibility to deal with it. 

“Now then, up you get,” he said to his still-woozy felinid patient. “It’s about time for my break.”

The catboy nodded slowly, rising off the surgical stasis bed and picking up his assistant’s backpack and grey suit. “And I need to get back to… well… assisting,” he thrummed. “Science probably needs my help keeping everything clean, since the old janitor got spaced for slipping up a bunch of people. You know, I bet if I keep doing well I might get promoted to actual janitor, that wou-”

“Now shoo,” Rick interrupted. “I’m glad about your job working out and all, but I haven’t had a break in almost twenty-four hours and I need to get out of here before someone else comes in with a pie on their head or who knows what else.” 

“Wish you luck with your break, Dr. Thompson,” the assistant said, before slipping out of the room, leaving the operating room empty of patients for the first time in almost a whole day. 

Rick groaned as he put away his surgical tools. “Damn greysuits always getting into trouble,” he said to nobody in particular, slamming the door to the surgery locker shut and turning to switch off the life support monitor that had been humming next to him for almost a whole day. Taking a break was no excuse to make more work to deal with later.

There was a crackle - or a rip, the sound was both alien and terrifyingly familiar, like a sheet of nylon tearing under stress - and an orb of pulsing blue energy appeared above the stasis bed. Rick stepped back instinctually - he had a sinking suspicion that the creepy barroom stories about things that happened on isolated stations were about to be proven to be completely true.

“Unidentified bluespace anomaly detected in Medbay surgical area. Potential effects unknown. Please vacate the area until the situation is resolved.” The artificial voice of the station’s AI Vox Unit was, as always, entirely nonreassuring. 

Rick turned and started for the door into the main hallway, not wanting to be caught near the clot of misplaced cosmic energy, but then the zapping sounds stopped, and a rush of cool, fresh air filled the room. 

There was a strangely human-sounding “uhnnh” from behind him. Rick stopped and turned around. Where the bluespace portal had been just a few seconds ago, there was a strange woman laying on the stasis bed. As he stood with his mouth half-open, the girl stirred, her eyelids flicking open momentarily to reveal gold irises of an almost unnatural brightness.

_ Well,  _ Rick thought,  _ I guess break time will have to wait. _


	2. Chapter 2

Azula slowly opened her eyes, and nearly fell off the bed. 

_The bed?_ _I don’t think they had me on a bed…_

The first thing she noticed through the haze that covered her vision was that everything seemed to be made out of metal, lit by a harsh and unusual light. The second thing she noticed was that there were multiple people staring at her.

_ Here? How… no, this isn’t the same place… not nearly… _

She blinked a couple of times to clear her eyes, and realized that the person in front of her was a lizard. A tall, dark-red lizard in a strange uniform, pointing a wood-and-metal stick at her. 

The lizard opened its toothy mouth, and hissed. “Hands. Where I can see them. Now.” Its voice was menacing, and surprisingly articulate, despite the outlandish accent. 

_ This can’t be real _ , she thought.  _ Ignore it and it will go away.  _

She closed her eyes for only a moment, trying to shut the vision, then felt a hard object rap against her ankle. “Hands, kid,” the lizard repeated insistently.

_ It’s real. _

Azula tried to raise her arms, but they felt as heavy as stone. Her lungs ached, like the breath had been knocked out of them. “I… can’t,” she wheezed. “Too heavy.”

“I think she’s injured, Officer,” another person said, off to the side. Azula couldn’t see them, but they sounded much more normal than the lizard. 

_ Well, at least this isn’t completely mad. _

“I’m not taking any chances, Rick, and neither should you,” the lizard responded. “Now, you,” he continued, turning to face Azula. “You have any idea how you got here?”

“No,” Azula said weakly. “I’m… very confused.” She wasn’t lying, either. Whatever was going on was absolutely incomprehensible - she had barely begun to take in her surroundings, and what she could see made very little sense.

“That’s not surprising, kid, given that you just went through a bluespace anomaly. But,” the bipedal reptile continued, “we in security have a station to protect, so we need to know where you’re from and that you aren’t a threat to our safety.”

“I’m… from the Fire Nation,” she responded. Judging by the expression on the lizardman’s face, she might as well have said that she was from the inside of a volcano.

“I don’t know where that is, kid.” Her questioner’s voice was patient, but he was obviously confused.

“I don’t know where I am either, so that seems fair.”

“Are you sure she isn’t delirious, Officer?” That was the other person. Azula tilted her head to look at them, but she still couldn’t quite reach. She thought she saw a scalpel on a table across the room.

_ A hospital… _

“I think you’re right. I’ve never heard of the ‘Fire Nation’ in my life,” the lizard said. “Nice, having a doctor on the job.”

_ Doctor… no…  _

“No,” Azula said, breathing hard. “I don’t need a doctor, I’m fine.” 

“Seems to me like you do need a doctor, kid, you look pretty out of it to me,” the lizard hissed. His tone was meant to be reassuring, but Azula did not hear him properly. 

_ I thought I wouldn’t have to go back there... _

“No, please, I don’t want any doctors,” she gasped. “I don’t like doctors, they make me nervous.” Her right hand twitched, and she felt a warmth in her fingers. 

_ My fire… I have it… how... _

“No shit. Rick, she’s hyperventilating, you got any way of helping with that?”

_ I don’t want to be dealt with! No!  _

“Hey, shh, just calm down…” Azula could hear the other person - the doctor - talking to her, but she didn’t listen. Her inner flame flared frantically.

_ That’s what they all said.  _

“Leave me alone!” she screeched, and with a monumental effort she was on her feet, hands in front of her in a firebending kata, and both of them leapt backward to avoid the wild burst of cobalt flame aimed at them. “You’re not real, leave me! Go! I don’t want any more stupid shadows talking to me!”

“Wait, what the-” “What kind of genetics experiment-” 

“I’m not an experiment!” Azula retorted furiously, nearly falling over as her head spun, more blue fire shooting out of her mouth. “You can’t treat me like this! Leave - or I’ll kill you!”

“Oh no you don’t, kid, not on my watch.” She couldn’t see the lizardman clearly anymore, her vision was blurry and she was swaying with the effort of remaining on her feet, but she heard a crackle and saw a gray rod tipped with light impact her shoulder before she crumpled to the floor and blacked out.

* * *

As the Gaang, Iroh, and the Earth King sat down around a large table and several cups of hot tea - brewed by Iroh, of course - they all glanced at each other, and at the empty seat next to Katara.

“So, uhh… is Aang still not awake?” Suki asked tentatively. 

Katara shook her head. “No,” she responded, worry drawn into her face. “He seems totally fine, overall, but he’s just… unconscious.”

The conversation halted as everyone at the table considered her words. None of them had any idea what had happened, only that Aang’s attempt to energybend the princess had somehow gone wrong. 

“Maybe he’s having one of those spirit visions or something,” Sokka said. “Wouldn’t be the first time he’s just gone unconscious because of something like that. And considering that he was energybending, which sounds like about the most spirit-y thing you can do, it’s got to involve that.”

“He could,” Katara said, “but I don’t know for sure… and that worries me.”

“It is worrying to all of us, Miss Katara,” Iroh concurred. “But I believe he is in good hands.” Katara smiled at the compliment, but her eyes continued to show concern as she quickly finished her tea. 

“I think I need to go check on Aang,” she said, standing up. “I don’t want him to wake up alone, and since the moon is rising I might be able to do some more in-depth examination of his chi.” The waterbender turned and briskly left the room.

There was silence for a while, punctuated only by porcelain teaware being set down on the stone tabletop, before Toph spoke up. “So, we’re not gonna talk about the fact that Princess Crazy just fucking vanished for no reason? Because that’s a pretty big deal, I think.”

“I was… hoping we would not have to talk about that, yes,” King Kuei responded, leaning on Bosco, who was drooling into his tea. “It is… highly disconcerting that she is at large again. And many of the nobles in my court are upset that she was allowed to escape.”

“And we still don’t know where she is?” Suki asked, concern lacing her voice. 

“None of my contacts have found anything about her whereabouts,” Iroh said, putting down his teacup. “And as you know, I have an extensive network. Wherever Azula is, she is hiding herself very well.”

Ty Lee tentatively spoke up. “Is there any way she could have been transported to the spirit world?” the acrobat queried. “I mean, it is the winter solstice. The barriers between the physical and spirit worlds are at their thinnest right now.”

Iroh pondered that statement. “I have considered that possibility, but again, those of my contacts who are spiritually attuned - and trust me when I say that they are highly sensitive to the workings of the spirit world - have not reported any unusual activity.”

“We may just have to wait until Aang wakes up,” Sokka concluded. “He should know better than anyone else, considering that he might be the only person alive who knows anything about energybending.”

“I think this meeting is adjourned,” Suki said. “The Kyoshi Warriors need to get back to patrolling - with Azula on the loose and the nobility upset about her escape, things are likely to be tense.”

The Earth King nodded. “I should probably try to reassure them. And I will have the Dai Li look out for any signs of the princess.”

With that, everyone rose from the table, Iroh carefully placing the tea set in the center for the palace servants to collect later, and went their separate ways. All of them were silently wondering what was going to happen next.

Several hallways away, Avatar Aang leapt from unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one is allowed to know what's going on yet. I forbid it.
> 
> In other news, how many chapters in a row can Azula have horrible flashbacks and mental issues? Apparently it's more than one. (Please forgive my horrible writing of her mental breakdowns, I don't have much experience writing insanity.)


	3. Chapter 3

“Aang! You’re awake!”

The airbender nodded, smiling at his girlfriend. He was always glad to have her support, but it was in the times when he was most overwhelmed that he could really appreciate it. And right now, he was feeling a great deal of stress, as well as some soreness and what might be the beginnings of a headache.

“How long was I asleep for?” Aang said. 

“Several hours, Aang. It’s nighttime now.” Katara stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m glad you’re back,” she whispered in his ear. “I was worried. I didn’t want her to take you again.”

Aang relaxed in Katara’s embrace for a minute, neither of them wanting to leave. But it could not be that way forever. 

Aang slowly pulled away from her and leaned back on the pillow again. “I’m glad to be back, too, Katara, but I have some things I need to talk to everyone about. I had a spirit vision while I was unconscious, and I’m sure it has something to do with what happened earlier.”

“Sokka thought you might be having a spirit world journey,” Katara said. “He’ll be very excited to know that he was right.”

“I’m sure he will,” Aang responded, not really listening. “The problem is, either I don’t know what the vision means, or what it means is so… weird, that I can’t believe it. Then he sighed and shook his head.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” 

Aang sighed. “I feel like I failed, Katara. I should have done things differently. I wasn’t strong enough this time.”

“It’s not your fault, Aang,” Katara said. “It’s the second time you’ve energybent someone, and you never had anyone to tell you how to use it.”

“But I did,” the Avatar said. “The lion turtle told me exactly what I needed to do - my will had to be unbendable. But it wasn’t.” He leaned back into Katara’s side, and she put another arm around him as he sat there.

“Aang, it’s-”

“I didn’t want to, Katara.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t want to take her bending, Katara. Azula isn’t the same as her father - I know it might be hard for you to see that, but she isn’t. I should have looked for another way. And I know you wouldn’t agree, but-”

Katara hugged Aang more tightly. “I don’t agree, Aang, but I understand. It’s your bending that you choose to use, or not to use.”

“I shouldn’t have given in,” Aang said resolutely. “And I’m not going to, this time. I’ll find another way, just like I did with Ozai.” He stood and took Katara’s hand. “Now, we need to go find everyone else and start planning. Azula isn’t going to find herself.”

* * *

Azula found herself waking up from unconsciousness for the second time in a row, and she was starting to get tired of it. Looking up at the ceiling, she could tell that she was still in the same incomprehensible metallic environment as last time, though she had apparently been moved to a different room and a different, somewhat softer bed.

_ At least they have the decency to give me a nice bed. _

“Oh good, you’re awake,” a new voice chirped from across the room. Azula twitched, feeling for her inner fire. It was still there.

“Hey, I’m not interested in hurting you. From what Officer Line said, he had to knock you out because you threatened to set him and Dr. Rick on fire.” 

_ Good. I hope they don’t come back.  _

Azula looked up to find that the source of the voice was a large humanoid moth wearing a purple-and-white coat. It was looking expectantly at her. 

“Why are you a moth?”

The moth raised its eyebrows. “You mean you’ve never heard of other sentient beings before?”

“I’ve met humans, and maybe a spirit or two. That’s it.” Azula could not hide the tiredness in her voice. Whatever was going on here, she wanted to be done with it. All the things she depended on were gone, and it hurt. 

“Huh. Well, there are other sentient creatures. Mothpeople, lizardpeople, ethereals, plasmapeople, and a lot of others, but those are the most common.”

“Good to know,” Azula said dryly, flexing her muscles experimentally as she lay on the bed. “At least I’m not completely ignorant anymore.” 

The mothperson looked confused. “You really don’t have any idea what’s going on, do you?”

Azula shook her head. 

“Huh. What’s your name?” 

_ Do I tell them? I don’t think they’ll know, but… yes. I have to. _

“Azula.” 

“Oh, I like that. It has a nice sound to it! Mine’s Mori.”

_ They don’t know who I am. As long as I’m careful, I should be able to keep who I am disguised, and they won’t find out. _

Azula had always been good at putting up facades, after all.

“Where am I?” she queried.

“Nanotrasen Space Station 13, planet four of the Berin system,” Lampa responded.

“I don’t know where that is.” The thought was both terrifying, and a little bit thrilling. She was completely and utterly lost.

The moth considered for a few moments before responding, “That’s odd. I’m not a metaphysicist, but I know bluespace anomalies don’t normally teleport objects over long distances. And if you really don’t know where you are, you must have come a long way indeed.”

“I would think so,” Azula said. “I’ve never seen… well, most of these things. What is all this?”

“The computers? You don’t have computers where you’re from?”

“We don’t have any of this stuff, really. We have machines powered by coal, but nothing like this.”

Mori whistled - it sounded very odd, a moth whistling. “You don’t even have electricity? That’s… weird. Must be pretty backward where you came from - no offense.”

“None taken. You aren’t wrong.”

“Well, where did you come from, then?”

“The Fire Nation.”

“Never heard of that place. Sounds like a whole different universe, or something.” The moth seemed to be considering something. “I mean, you could have amnesia. Do you have any gaps in your memory?”

“No,” Azula said. “Not ones that I would remember, at least.”

Mori laughed - it was even stranger-sounding than the whistle, but not unpleasant. “Good one. But you don’t seem amnesiac to me. You’re just… unusual. And I’m pretty unusual, too, so it’s not a problem for me.”

_ You don’t know just how unusual I am... _

Azula shrugged. “When I woke up here, everything was so strange, and then no one knew what the Fire Nation was - I mean, I’ve never heard of someone not knowing of the Fire Nation in my life. They seemed absolutely shocked by my firebending as well - it was like they’d never seen it before.”

“The pyrokinesis? You call that firebending? And that’s something that a lot of people have where you’re from?”

“Yes,” Azula replied. “There’s four types, actually - fire, air, water, and earth.”  _ And energy _ , she thought, but she declined to mention that.

The moth looked shocked - and intrigued. “So people can generate elements? That’s a really weird mutation-”

“It’s bending, not a mutation. And only firebenders can generate their element - the other three simply manipulate them in the environment,” Azula said tersely. She was beginning to feel uneasy again, but it was not the wild panic from earlier. It was a slowly dawning realization.

_ These people don’t know what bending is. Like they’ve never seen it before, or even heard of it. _

_ Where am I? _

Mori’s face fell. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be offensive. It’s just that this stuff interests me, like, a lot. That’s why they brought you here, I think - working with genetic mutations is kind of my job.”

Azula was about to retort that she was not a mere mutant, but then a thought struck her. These people seemed to have incredibly advanced technology - she couldn’t even recognize the majority of it - and they also didn’t know who she was. It was an opportunity to learn - and Azula knew well that knowledge was a powerful tool, especially if it was knowledge that no one else possessed. 

“Since I don’t know how I got here, and I might be here for a while, could you explain how all this technology you have works? I can explain more about bending if you do. It would be mutually beneficial.”

_ And it might help me escape. Both this, and what’s waiting for me when I return. _

“That would be a great idea!” Mori’s excitement reminded Azula of her brother’s obsession with theater, but she avoided following that train of thought. “So, I’m going to start with the basics. Do you know what an atom is?”

Azula shook her head and began to listen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are starting to get longer...
> 
> In other news, Azula is not freaking out anymore (at least for now). My intention was for her to be externally stable (she's had a while on her own to think and try to rebuild some kind of facade) but internally she's very conflicted and doesn't exactly know what to do with herself. Let me know if there's anything I can do to make her character better.
> 
> Also, the lizardman security officer OC's name is from user "Atlanta-ned" on the tgstation forums. (This post specifically: https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3477). Mori and Rick Thompson are both original names.


	4. Chapter 4

For the second time that day, there was a meeting in the Earth King’s tearoom. It was late, the waxing half moon shining through the east windows and suffusing the room with a soft silver glow, but everyone in the room was wide awake, thanks at least in part to some energizing tea that Iroh had made.

“So,” Sokka started, “you had something to tell us, Aang?”

“Yeah,” the Avatar said, putting down his cup and taking a deep breath. “So, I had a spirit dream while I was unconscious, and I’m almost certain it has to do with Azula’s disappearance. The trouble is… well, for one, I don’t know if I’m interpreting it properly, but I’m also kind of scared of what it could mean.” He paused, looking around the room expectantly.

“Please tell us about the vision, Aang,” Iroh said, calmly as always. “Having a second opinion will help. And remember, we are all here for you.” 

“So, I was standing in front of Azula, energybending her, and then everything… split. It was like a bunch of sheets of paper separating from each other, but all around me. And I was on one sheet, but I could see the others, and they were all different worlds. Different pages.” 

“So, like, different versions of the spirit world?” Katara asked.

Aang shook his head. “No, different… I don’t know, maybe universes would be the right word? All of them were worlds, and I think I saw people in some of them, but they were all different.”

There was a long pause as everyone in the room considered the Avatar’s words. 

Finally, Sokka cleared his throat. “So, let me make sure I’m hearing this right. Something went wrong with your energybending, and you saw a whole bunch of other worlds and then Azula just vanished. That’s what we’re talking about.”

Aang nodded. “And I think Azula was pulled across a barrier between worlds. I’m not sure exactly why, but I do remember how it felt when it happened, and… well, I think I could do it again.”

“I don’t believe it,” Sokka said. “There has to be a logical explanation for what happened that doesn’t involve completely different universes. I mean, how could we know that those even exist?”

“There is precedent for the idea, Sokka,” Iroh said, after a while. “There are a few old stories - mostly half-forgotten and nonsensical, but there nonetheless - about other worlds. And energybending is a very strange discipline, with many unexplored ramifications and possibilities. It is entirely possible that you may have opened a breach between universes, however temporarily.”

“Well, what do we do about it?” Sokka, ever the pragmatist, asked. “If Azula’s in some crazy other world, how are we going to recapture her?”

“Couldn’t we just leave her there?” Toph said. “I mean, it’s not like she can hurt anyone if she’s not here.”

There were some nods of assent - most notably from Sokka and the Kyoshi Warriors - but Aang stood up. “We can’t do that,” he said. “It wouldn’t be responsible or fair - both to her-”

“And why should we do anything for her?” Suki said. “I’m glad she’s gone. She imprisoned and tortured me, Aang!”

“I never finished,” Aang said, a serious note in his voice. “Azula is mentally ill. If we leave her, it would be unfair to her - and it would be irresponsible to anyone else who encountered her. We have to go after her and bring her back.”

Everyone nodded, though there was some unease.

“Before we start talking about finding Azula,” Iroh noted, “it would be prudent to figure out what went wrong with your energybending, Aang.”

The airbender sighed. “It went wrong because I shouldn’t have done it in the first place, and I knew that. So my will was not strong enough, because I knew I was wrong.”

Everyone went completely silent.

“But-” King Kuei tried to speak, but Aang interrupted him.

“She’s sixteen. We can’t just act like she’s a monster who has to be locked away.” He took a deep breath, then continued resolutely. “I know she’s unstable and dangerous, and she did a lot of bad things, but I’m not going to strip her of a part of herself. She’ll never heal if I do that.”

“Avatar Aang, you have to understand that she is very dangerous, and there are many in influential positions who have demanded-” 

“They can keep demanding. Azula isn’t her father. She deserves the opportunity to be a different person.” Aang sighed, then resolutely said, “I’ve found another way once, I can do it again.” He reached for Katara’s hand, almost unconsciously, and looked around the room at his friends.

“I don’t really agree that Azula doesn’t deserve to have her firebending taken. At all,” Suki finally said. “But I trust you, Aang.”

Slowly, everyone else assented, though not without a great deal of concerned interjections from the Earth King and Iroh, who were worried about the political and logistical consequences of Aang's refusal. 

“It’s settled,” Aang said. “I’m going to figure out how to open a way to where Azula is, and then we’re going to bring her back.”

* * *

Azula had been sitting on the bed listening to Mori for what seemed like hours. Her new acquaintance may have looked unassuming, but she was obviously highly intelligent and a passionate student - qualities that Azula herself possessed, and that she held in high regard. After a few minutes of listening, she had forgotten entirely about her strange surroundings and simply immersed herself in the flow of knowledge, only speaking to ask Mori clarifying questions. 

It was, quite possibly, the most interesting conversation she had had in years.

“So, to clarify, all living things are made up of cells?”

Mori shrugged. “Not all, but a lot of the important ones. Animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, protozoa. And the definition of life is something that a lot of people argue over, anyway. We’re just talking about cells at the moment.”

Azula nodded. “I see. So, you were talking about genetics?”

“Yeah, that’s it!” Mori looked very excited now. “This is what I work in! So, genes are the units of heredity - basically, the instructions that your cells use. And that means that they determine, like, a lot of things: how you look, propensity to certain diseases, how many arms you have…”

_ Ah, so this is where science begins to relate to bending… _

Azula was about to bring up the possible connection, but there was a knock at the heavy metal door. Mori got up to open it - she had mentioned earlier that the doors would only open if you had been assigned access to that area, so manually letting people in was something that had to be done a lot.

“Yes? We’re kind of in the middle of a discussion here!” 

“I wanted to check on you, Mori,” a voice growled. Azula tensed up involuntarily - it was the lizardman from earlier, the one who had threatened her and knocked her out.

_ He’s a guard. He could hurt me. I need to be careful. _

Mori opened the door. “I’m fine, Officer Line. Azula hasn’t caused any issues!”

The lizardman looked between the two of them. “Just making sure.” He then turned to face Azula and coughed awkwardly. “Sorry about the stun baton, kid. Azula.”

_ He… apologized? _

Azula felt strangely relieved. She bowed, her hands forming a Fire Nation flame. Both Mori and Officer Line looked amused at the gesture. “I understand. I should not have lost control there.”

“I don’t blame you, kid. Now I’ve got to go - someone was talking about a felinid assistant slipping people in the hallways.” With that, the officer left.

“So, back to genes?”

Mori nodded. “Yep!” She then paused, and considered something. “You know, I kind of want to do a genetics test on you,” she said slowly. “It won’t take long, I have all the equipment here, and it would be really interesting to find out where your pyrokinesis-”

“Bending.”

“-your bending comes from, thanks.”

_ A test. I don’t know if I trust tests. But everyone here seems pretty trustworthy... _

Azula shrugged. “I’ll think about it. Perhaps you could explain how genetics works, first.” 

“That’s fine! You don’t have to. And it would help to know what we’re looking at first.”

With that, Mori launched into an explanation of how genes were constructed and stored information, and Azula settled down to listen again.

* * *

Morning dawned faintly chilly and crystalline as the Gaang met around a fountain in the east courtyard of the Earth Palace, still yawning from their early awakening. Appa was there as well, with several bags already in his saddle.

“So, where exactly are we going, Aang?” Sokka queried. “You just said we were leaving early this morning to go ask for someone’s help.”

“We’re heading to the Foggy Swamp,” the airbender responded. “Remember Huu? The vine guy? I figure he’d be the best person to ask about the connections between our world and others, since he’s an expert on things being connected.”

The Water Tribe siblings both shuddered a bit - they had been with Aang when they first visited the swamp, and they did not have fond memories of it - but they, and everyone else, knew that Aang’s plan made sense. The Foggy Swamp was the most spiritually connected place in the world, and they would need that network of connections to locate Azula.

“Who are we waiting on again, Twinkletoes?” Toph asked. 

“I think it’s just Zuko - he’s got to clarify some stuff with his uncle, since he’s going to be the acting Fire Lord temporarily,” Aang said, leaping onto Appa. “He should be here soon, right Mai?.”

Mai nodded. “He’s just talking to the Kyoshi Warriors. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be staying here, Suki? You are their leader.” 

“Liu will be temporary captain of the Warriors, since I’m going with you. I’m not leaving Sokka to his own devices,” the auburn-haired warrior responded. “Ty Lee is also coming,” she said, gesturing to the acrobat next to her.

“Ah, there’s Sparky!”

Zuko strode out of the main door, having exchanged his formal robes for traveling clothing. Behind him, the Earth King ran, holding onto his hat. He looked rather anxious.

King Kuei stopped and looked up at Aang as Zuko propelled himself into Appa’s saddle. “I wanted to wish you luck in finding and recapturing Azula under these… very odd circumstances.” He then looked down, somewhat ashamedly. “And Avatar Aang, if you would be willing to reconsider… there are going to be political issues, I can already tell.”

“We can discuss what will happen to Azula when we get back, King Kuei.” Aang paused, then continued. “I’m not sure what to do either. But I don’t think taking her bending is the right solution.”

“If you say so, Aang,” Sokka said. 

“I know so,” he responded. “Appa, yip yip!”

And with that, the Gaang embarked on a new and entirely unexpected adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for the Gaang to roll out once again. This time, there's going to be a lot less evil fire royalty, and a lot more clowns and general misunderstandings.
> 
> Meanwhile, I'm just wondering how many chapters it'll take for Azula to become part of the science department. After all, the staff haven't figured out how convenient it is to have a portable heat source...


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey Azula, want something to eat?”

_ Oh… yes. I do. _

Azula quickly nodded - she had been so focused on Mori’s lecturing that she had ignored all physical sensations she was experiencing, something that she was used to doing when learning. Now that she had been reminded, though, she was more than happy to take the opportunity.

“What do you have?”

“Oh yeah… I forgot, you’ve probably never eaten our food before!” Mori said. “This will be really fun! I think the chef has pizza, though I don’t know if you know what that is. It’s really good, though!”

“What is it made of?” 

“It’s basically baked dough with a sauce and cheese on top, but there are loads of different variations. I think you might have to see it to understand it.”

“It sounds fine.”

“Great!” Mori was excited. “I’ll go get a few slices - just the basic kind for now - and some banana cream pie for myself!”

“You eat pie for dinner? What about the pizza?”

“The pizza’s for you Azula, since you’re a human and prefer to eat lots of large carbohydrates and lipids. We mothpeople need lots of simple sugars, so pie for me. And donuts - oh, you’ve never had donuts, I have to get some of those-”

“You know, it might be nice to go and get the food,” Azula interjected. She didn’t entirely understand Mori’s food-science talk, but the “pizza” she mentioned sounded edible, and that was more than good enough for her at the moment. She could feel her inner fire demanding sustenance.

“Oh, sorry! Here, come on and I’ll show you where-”

_ There are so many strange people here. I don’t want to be stared at.  _

“Could I stay in here?” 

If Mori was upset by Azula’s request, she didn’t show it. “Sure! I don’t have to show you around yet, and I eat in here a lot anyway so it’s fine. Just wait here, and don’t mess with anything too much, ok?”

“I think I can manage that, Mori.”

_ I can look around. I don’t know how much it’ll help, but I can. _

“Cool!” With that, her acquaintance stepped through the automatic door and fluttered off, her footsteps clacking lightly on the metal tile. 

Azula took this as an opportunity to stand - shakily, as her legs were rather stiff - and examine the room more closely for the first time. She ignored the electronic devices, which Mori had not yet explained in any detail, and focused on the tools she saw laying on a small table.

_ I’m not going to let these people do anything to me if I can help it. Not that it seems like Mori would, but I need to be careful. I’ve been tricked before. _

She slowly walked over to the table and inspected the objects on it. There was a small, bulbous-ended glass tube with measuring lines which Azula assumed was meant to hold liquid, as well as an open box full of glass cups, which also had unit markers on them. The markers were labeled “mL” in phonetic script, which she assumed was the name of the unit of measurement. Learning that such script was used by default where she was had interested Azula - the cultures that she was familiar with all used a more symbol-based system in formal life, and while she knew what phonetic script was, she was not used to using it on a daily basis.

_ Incidentally, I can’t help but wonder how I can understand the language here so well.  _

Azula was startled out of her investigation by the door opening. She turned around quickly to see that Mori had returned, carrying a large flat box with a cream pie and a smaller box balanced precariously atop it. 

“I got the food, Azula! And I see you’re up walking again, that’s great!” If her companion was concerned about Azula’s inspection of her laboratory, she made no mention of it, instead choosing to saunter over to where she was standing. “Could you get all those things off the table?” she asked, gesturing to the equipment that Azula had just been inspecting. “Just put them on top of that console for now.”

Azula nodded, then carefully picked up the containers and the glass tube, placing them on top of a flashing electronic screen over to the right of the table. Mori placed the boxes and the pie on the newly cleared table, then opened the flat box, revealing a wheel of bready dough covered in cheese and a red sauce, cut into several triangular slices. A savory smell rose from the opened box.

_ I’m assuming that’s the “pizza”. It looks… surprisingly appetizing. _

“So,” Mori said, sitting down with a fork and eyeing the yellow pie, “you eat the pizza with your hands. Just so you know.” She promptly dug a forkful of banana cream out of the dish and started eating.

“I see,” Azula said. She tentatively reached for a slice, picking it up and sliding the pointed end into her mouth before biting in. It was heavy and rich, with no spice whatsoever, but it wasn’t bad. 

_ I could get used to eating this, I suppose. Especially since there are apparently a lot of other things one can put on it. _

There was relative silence as both of them ate for a while, with the low hum and intermittent beeping of the various machines that made up the station providing the only sound. Azula still didn’t exactly understand her situation, and she had no idea where she was, but all things considered, things weren’t that bad.

* * *

Appa had been flying for a few hours, and the Gaang was already rather bored of being in the air. 

“You know, I think I’ve been on enough long flying trips for a lifetime,” Sokka grumbled. “It was fun the first couple of times, but now it’s just boring.”

Toph punched him on the arm, causing him to moan again. “At least you have eyes to look at the ground with, Snoozles! I’m totally blind up here!”

“Yeah, Sokka, calm down,” Suki said, giving him a look and pulling him next to her with one arm. “Surely someone as intelligent as you can avoid being bored.” That elicited some laughs from the others - Sokka rolled his eyes, but said nothing and snuggled closer to his girlfriend.

“Sure, and maybe while he’s at it he can think of some way to handle Azula once we find her,” Ty Lee joked. Her words were met with silence, however - the fire princess was still a touchy subject for their group, especially after last night’s discussion had gotten somewhat heated as Aang flatly refused to consider taking her bending. 

“I don’t think now is a very good time to talk about that,” Aang said slowly. “I mean, if anyone has any good ideas, then hold on to them, but I think we should try not to stress about that right now.”

“Twinkletoes has a point, you know,” Toph agreed. “We should relax. Not that I’m gonna be doing much relaxing without any rocks around, but the rest of you can take advantage of it.”

With that, the group lapsed into a comfortable silence again as Appa soared onward.

* * *

“So,” Mori said, “you want to talk about your bending?”

Both Azula and her companion were absolutely stuffed - according to the digital clock on the console next to their table, they had spent over half an hour eating all the food they could. Mori had eaten almost all of the pie and two donuts, while Azula herself had finished five slices of the pizza, as well as a donut and a little bit of the pie, which the mothperson had insisted she try.

_ Agni, that was a nice meal. Very unusual, but nice. _

And, with her stomach full and her environment surprisingly amenable, Azula was actually feeling… good. Mori had thus far proven to be quite friendly, and while Azula knew that she would likely feel very different about her if she found out what kind of a person she actually was, the princess was more than happy to enjoy the company while it lasted. 

_ It’s been a while since I’ve been able to really… talk. Not being known is very liberating. _

“Well,” Azula started, “from what you’ve told me about genetics, it seems like bending is a hereditary trait. But it also has spiritual elements - part of learning to bend is understanding the nature of one’s element and learning to harness it, and benders use their chi to manipulate elements, so it’s pretty spiritual. So… it’s kind of both genetic and spiritual.”

“That makes sense,” Mori said. “I mean, you’re born with wings, but you have to learn to fly with them.” The mothperson then realized that she was talking to a human and chuckled. “I guess legs would be a better analogy.”

“Yes, it would. And now that I think about it, bending can be given - or removed - by spirit entities as well… so how would that work?”

_ Don’t tell them that. Don’t even think about it. _

“That’s not actually that weird, Azula. It’s really not that hard to modify existing genomes - well, it’s hard, but I can totally do it, so I’m sure a spirit could. I gave myself electrical resistance, how else do you think I keep myself from getting zapped all the time?”

“So you can just… modify people? Give them powers?”

_ And take them away? _

“Yep, that’s a major part of my job! Not that I do it often, Research Director Kena doesn’t like it when I go around giving people random weird abilities, but I can!”

“That’s… really interesting.” Azula was slightly concerned again.

“I know! We do a lot of interesting things on this station. And lots of interesting things happen on this station, too, without us doing them. I’ll tell you some stories later. But for now, I’m really curious as to what the spiritual aspect of your bending is.”

Azula thought for a bit, then began to explain. “So, using my firebending as an example. Fire is the element of will and drive - power, if you will. Having a strong drive is as essential to being a skilled firebender as mastering the movements.”

_ And look how well that worked out for you. _

The firebender ignored the nagging voices and continued. “Firebending is also connected to the sun - Agni, the sun spirit, more specifically, but generally the sun. So we tend to spend as much time as we can in the sunlight, and we wake up and go to bed with the sun, as well. These artificial lights are really strange to me, for that reason.”

“So, you’re like, linked to the closest star?”

_ Well… yes, that would be it, wouldn’t it.  _

Azula was pleased that she had managed to relate some of Mori’s information - specifically her explanation about solar systems and stars - to a practical purpose. She continued explaining. “We also meditate by breathing with flames, since firebending is powered by breath. Does any of that make sense?”

“It actually sorta does! That’s really cool.” Azula was starting to realize that Mori could get excited about pretty much anything that involved learning. “Can you show me?”

“I suppose.” Azula lifted one hand and opened her palm, conjuring a flickering blue flame to her touch. She could feel the sun, though it was unusually distant, but her chi was sluggish and her flame felt weak. 

_ No drive. No passion. _

“Whoa,” Mori said, her compound eyes wide. “Cool! Is the blue color normal?”

“No,” Azula said rather proudly. “I’m the first known to create blue fire on a regular basis like this.”

“A unique sub-mutation? That’s really neat! Does the blue mean anything in particular - besides it just being hotter?”

“Blue fire is hotter, but also slightly more efficient. Why, I wouldn’t know. Perhaps it has something to do with what you were telling me about oxidation.” Azula didn’t know whether it was the evening or her firebending, but she was feeling very tired all of a sudden.

Mori quickly noticed her weary expression. “Hey, you look sleepy - which isn’t surprising, considering it is technically nighttime, though you can’t really tell-”

“I can, actually. Solar connection.”

“Oh yeah, that’s cool! So since we’re away from our sun right now, you must be really tired, not to mention everything you went through earlier. Do you want me to show you where the dormitories are? We’re pretty low-staffed, I’m sure we could find you room.”

“I would like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mori and Azula are just a couple of nerds. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are very welcome! Please tell me if my description of pizza wasn't good enough.


	6. Chapter 6

After dropping off an incredibly drowsy Azula in one of the spare dormitory rooms where she wouldn’t be disturbed, Mori strode down the hallway towards the Head of Personnel’s office. She needed to get her new friend an ID card so she could move around the station freely. The issue would be convincing the Head, who had to deal with people constantly asking for access to new departments, to issue an entirely new ID card - with access to Science, one of the most dangerous departments, no less - to someone who had literally appeared out of nowhere.

_ Not that much of an issue, though. Nanotrasen never cares about anything until well after they should have in the first place. _

The geneticist looked in through the reinforced glass window to see the Head sitting at his desk, one hand slowly stroking between the ears of Ian, his pet corgi. The door to the reception area opened freely for her, allowing her to step in and knock on the clear barrier between her and her

“Good evening, Mori,” the administrator said. “I wasn’t under the impression that you needed any of my assistance. What brings you here?”

“I need some help, James - or, more accurately, a friend of mine does. I need an ID with Science access for her, so she can get around and meet me in my lab if she needs help.” Mori felt comfortable addressing the Head of Personnel informally - they weren’t exactly friends, but they knew each other fairly well.

“That girl who fell out of the anomaly and tried to scorch Officer Line and Dr. Thompson? I thought I heard they had sent her to your office.”

Mori nodded, her wings fluttering a little bit. “Yeah, they did. And I don’t think she meant to shoot fire at them - she’s a lot calmer now. She’s sleeping in one of the spare dorms at the moment.”

_ And I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have any interest in getting in trouble - she seems really nervous around everyone. I’m not sure why. _

James sighed, lifting his hand off Ian’s head. “Look, Mori, typically if I want to give someone departmental access I would have to ask the department head. Especially when that person is completely new to the station.”

“I understand-”

“But,” the Head of Personnel continued, the smallest half-smile present on his face, “considering that you have a good reputation, I can make a minor exception and give her access to your lab only. Anything more than that, you’ll have to ask Kena, or get the AI to let her in. She’s a human, so they should listen to her as long as the request isn’t something dangerous.”

Mori smiled and nodded respectfully. “Thanks, James.”

_ Nice! _

“You’re welcome. I have to say I trust you a good bit more than Nanotrasen’s employee vetting systems, anyway. The number of Syndicate operatives they let in here...”

“No kidding,” Mori said with a laugh. “And that’s a high compliment, thanks.”

_ I mean, I already knew that I could do a better job than the racists at Centcom.  _

“I’d say it’s a deserved one. Now, what’s the name for the ID?” James Sterling said, keys clicking as he opened his computer.

“Azula… well, just put Azula. I don’t know her last name, and I’m not sure if her culture has that type of naming convention.”

“Different culture, huh? Do you know where she’s from?” The Head looked concerned.

“She said she was from the Fire Nation, wherever that is. Apparently their civilization is really low-tech, though - from what she told me, their most advanced technology is coal engines. No electricity or anything.”

The Head of Personnel whistled. “This must be pretty weird for her. I’m assuming she doesn’t speak Galactic Common?”

Mori bounced on her heels excitedly. “Actually, she does! The pronunciations are weird, and her culture uses logograms for everyday written language rather than phonetics, so our writing is a bit odd for her, but we can understand each other really well!”

_ Which is really weird. It doesn’t make sense that our languages are so similar. But I’m not going to argue with it. _

Noticing that James was still looking at her, Mori continued speaking. “I’ve been spending the last day explaining the basics of our modern science to her, and trying to help her get used to the station. She’s really interested, and she’s been explaining her pyrokinesis to me - apparently they call it firebending where she’s from, and it’s like, a whole cultural thing! It’s fascinating.”

“Well, I’m glad she has you to help her get used to being here.” There was a whirr, and James pulled out a grey card with a barcode on it, smiling as he handed it to . “Here you go. Access to all general areas, Maintenance, and Genetics. Call me if you need anything, and make sure your new friend stays out of trouble.”

Mori took the card and beamed. “Thanks so much, James!”

“You’re welcome, Mori. I’ll tell Security about her having a card so they don’t arrest her - but I advise you get your new friend to read up on Nanotrasen Space Law. I don’t want to have to regret making this decision.”

“Understood.” Mori turned and bounded out of the office, waving goodbye over her shoulder, and set off back down the hallway. She needed to get some sleep, too. Tomorrow was going to be another exciting day.

* * *

Azula awoke and briefly panicked on realizing she was in a small, confined space, nearly leaping out of the bed. Then she realized that she was not in the asylum or a prison cell, but in one of the dormitories of the strange “space station” she had found herself on. She couldn’t deny that, odd as it was, her situation was far better than it had been a day ago.

_ It’ll only be better if you’re careful. Don’t let them know what you are.  _

She stepped out of bed, stretched, and yawned. She felt slightly sore, but well rested and full. Holding her hand out, Azula kindled a flicker of azure flame in her palm, feeling her inner fire respond to her will. It was sluggish and weak -  _ lack of drive  _ \- but it was an improvement over when she had been confined in a prison awaiting a miserable fate.

_ At least I’m not being threatened with losing my fire.  _

Azula looked around the room, and noticed a set of gray clothes hanging from the back of the door. She picked them up. They weren’t the clothes of a noblewoman like she was used to, and they looked uncomfortable, but they also weren’t the prison clothes that she had been wearing. The princess took them off the hook and began to change into them. The shirt and long pants didn’t fit very well, and hung rather loosely from her sides, but they weren’t actually terribly uncomfortable - whatever the unusual fabric was, it felt cool and smooth to the touch. Azula tossed her old apparel to the ground with a small, but genuine, smile on her face.

_ I feel… free. Different.  _

Taking a glance at the clock on the wall, Azula noted that it was quite early - Mori probably hadn’t woken up yet, and she didn’t want to try and walk around the station on her own, assuming she could even get anywhere without an access card.

_ Well, I’ll just have to keep myself occupied while I wait for her to wake up.  _

Azula started running through some of her basic firebending katas - cold, as there wasn’t enough space in the room to produce actual fire, and she also didn’t want to drain her chi unnecessarily. She was pleased to note that her base forms were still ingrained in her memory, even after many months of not really being able to practice them. The princess had always enjoyed firebending.

As she started going through the fourth set, the door slid open with a swish. Azula turned her head, expecting to see Mori, but instead there was a strange, ominous metallic figure in the doorway. It was slightly shorter than the princess, and only vaguely humanoid in form. 

_ Is that a robot? Mori said something about those… _

The thing spoke, its voice a monotone drone. “Generating uncontrolled flame onboard the station is generally not permitted.” Its eyes - or what Azula assumed were its eyes - bore no expression whatsoever. Azula was momentarily reminded of the victims of the Dai Li’s brainwashing techniques. A chill ran down her spine.

“My flame isn’t uncontrolled,” Azula said slowly. “I won’t burn down anything, if that’s what you mean. And what are you?” The question slipped out before Azula could stop herself.

“I am Medical Cyborg-763. I was idle, so Station AI Daedalus has delegated me to inform you that they ‘hope you have a good stay on Space Station 13, and advise you to stay out of trouble’ - to quote the wording they relayed.”

_ Station AI? I don’t really understand, Mori didn’t mention that much… _

Azula decided not to ask further questions - she would save those for Mori, when she showed up - and simply nodded. “I understand. I can manage to stay out of trouble.”

“That would be advisable,” the cyborg droned, just as Mori waltzed into the room. Her eyes widened a bit at seeing the cyborg talking to Azula, and her mouth opened, but the robot spoke first.

“I was delegated by Station AI Daedalus to welcome the new arrival. No harm intended.”

Mori eyed the cyborg with an expression of disbelief. “Well, I’m here to take Azula to my lab and get some breakfast, so I can take over here.”

_ I thought she had seen these before. Why does she look so surprised? _

“That is acceptable. I will return to my specified idle protocols.” The cyborg’s eye-lights flashed, and it left the room with a hum. Mori turned to Azula.

“Good morning, Azula!” Mori’s smile seemed genuine, but the princess could tell that she was worried. “I came to make sure you were all right, and to give you an access card! James was nice enough to give me one that allows you to get into my lab, so if you get lost you can just follow the signs and go back there.” She handed Azula a small card that fit neatly in the belt of her suit.

“Thank you, that’s… really nice.” 

_ She just keeps treating me like she wants me to stay… _

The mothperson took her hand. “We should go to my lab, we can talk more and get breakfast! Maybe I can introduce you to some people later, too.” She tugged on Azula’s arm, leading her along the hallway at a brisk pace.

“So, uhh… who is Station AI Daedalus? That cyborg mentioned it.” Azula was aware that it might not be the best idea to ask random questions while in the middle of a public hallway, but she wanted answers. Judging by Mori’s reaction to her visitor, something odd was going on.

“The Station AI is… well, it’s an artificial intelligence. I explained those to you yesterday, right?”

Azula hadn’t exactly believed the explanation, but she had understood it to some extent. “You did. So, this AI is part of the station?”

“Yeah, Daedalus controls a lot of electronics on the station, they help manage power, open doors for people when they ask, direct the cyborgs, mundane stuff like that. It is odd that they decided to welcome you, though - they don’t usually go out of their way to talk to people.”

“They warned me to stay out of trouble,” Azula said. “I’m not sure how they figured out that I was firebending in the room, but they did. I suppose I should be more careful.”

“Yeah, you want to be careful where you do that,” Mori agreed. “You might scare people. And Daedalus has access to their own camera system, so I’m not surprised they noticed you firebending. And it would make sense that they would want to monitor you, since you’re new and you have a weird ability.”

Azula sighed. “Great, I have an all-powerful intelligence spying on me while I change.”

Her friend laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. Daedalus isn’t a human, they wouldn’t care about that. And they won’t take pictures, either.”

_ Well, that’s a relief at least.  _

As they reached the door of the science wing where Mori’s lab was, the moth nudged Azula forward. “Here, try and open the door! Just walk up to it, it should sense the card and open for you.” Azula stepped forward and sure enough, the door slid open. She felt an odd sense of satisfaction.

_ It’s like I belong here. It recognizes me as one of its own. _

As Azula stepped into the lab with her new friend, wearing her new clothes, she thought of something.

_ Perhaps I could belong here. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting a little bit of Mori POV here! This won't happen often, but every once in a while we'll get a look into the mind of our favorite hyperactive moth friend. 
> 
> The lack of significant Gaang POV here will probably persist into the next couple of chapters. Just imagine that they're still on Appa, flying towards the Foggy Swamp and chatting about anything that doesn't have to do with the fact that they're about to try and jump dimensions.


	7. Chapter 7

Azula sighed, leaning back in her seat and reflecting on the last morning’s events. On returning to the genetics lab, Azula had been startled by her friend removing two clear discs from her eyes, which the now-bespectacled Mori had told her were called “contact lenses” and served as a convenient, if sometimes uncomfortable, alternative to glasses. They had then enjoyed a nice breakfast, consisting of buttered biscuits, bacon, and of course more of Mori’s seemingly endless supply of donuts. Now, they had lapsed into a comfortable, relaxed silence - a feeling that Azula found foreign, but quite alluring.

_ I don’t have to worry. I can just… be.  _

After a while of rest, Mori broke the calm. “So, do you want to take that genetics test? Now would be a good time.” 

Azula hesitated. She trusted Mori, she realized -  _ trust is for fools,  _ the words echoed in her head but she ignored them. 

_ Father was wrong about a lot of things. I know that. He was probably wrong about trust. _

“Will it have any negative effects on me?”

Mori laughed - Azula was always surprised at how friendly her laugh sounded - and waved her hand. “Oh, I didn’t realize, I never told you! It won’t affect your bending at all - it’s just an analysis. Sorry about that.”

_ Thank Agni.  _

Azula relaxed. “Then yes, definitely. I imagine I could learn a lot from this.”

Her friend’s eyes sparkled. “Ok, great! Are you alright with needles?” she said offhandedly as she picked up a box off the floor. “I have to take a blood sample for this.”

_ Oh. Oh, no. _

“I’d rather not use needles. I’ve had… bad experiences with those.” Azula was trying not to hyperventilate, but her breath control was failing as the walls she’d constructed started crumbling. A few years ago, it would have been hilarious to her, how such a small object could cause so much mental anguish, but since the Agni Kai she had experienced it and it was nightmarish.

_ No, don’t show weakness… don’t remember... _

“Huh, you really don’t like needles, do you.” Mori was concerned -  _ why is she being so nice  _ \- and she put a hand on Azula’s, who flinched. “Bad experience, I can’t imagine. Is it that it hurts?”

“Sort of - they just remind me of bad things that happened. I don’t like doctors either, because of the same stuff.” Azula was surprised by her own admission.

“Well,” the geneticist said after a pause, “I can’t do this without drawing your blood, unfortunately. But we don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine. I can handle it, I think.” 

_ No. I’m not going to be imprisoned by my own mind. I’m stronger than that… right? _

“Well, the best way for you to do this would be to put your arm on the table and flip it so your palm is facing upward.”

Azula did as Mori told her, shivering with trepidation. Her friend must have noticed her unease, because she put the syringe down on the table next to her arm and looked her in the eyes seriously.

“You’re absolutely sure you’re going to be okay? We don’t have to do this.”

“I’ll be fine. I need to get over it.” 

_ I don’t want your pity. I am strong. _

Mori sighed and shook her head. “Look, I can hold your hand here - I probably should anyway, it helps with blood pressure - if that makes you feel more comfortable. And you can look away. I’ve always found that helps.” The expression on her face was not one of condescension, but something else - concern, perhaps? 

Azula nodded, then took Mori’s hand, focusing on her friend’s soft yet firm grip as she deftly inserted the needle into a vein in her forearm with her other hand. The sharp pain caused her to jump and turn her head, but she barely felt anything after that, only turning around when Mori let go of her hand and placed a small, sticky bandage over the pinprick. 

“There, Azula. You got through it. You all right?”

_ I… I think I’m fine. _

Azula nodded, only now realizing that her breathing had settled again. “Yes. Thank you.”

“Thank you - and you’re welcome. Oh, that’s not right. Now, I just need to put this into the DNA analyzer and let it scan.” Mori smiled broadly. “Now how would you feel about getting a drink?”

* * *

“So, uhh, Suki?” Aang looked back from his seat on Appa’s head at his auburn-haired friend.

“Yes, Aang?”

“What was Azula like when she was imprisoned?” the airbender asked slowly. “I know you and the other Kyoshi Warriors spent time guarding her, and I wasn’t really there.”

Suki sighed. “Well, the asylum staff kept her heavily sedated a lot of the time, so she couldn’t bend and she was really hazy. We had to accompany the doctors whenever they went near her - she would lash out at anyone she saw. It was… well, it was disturbing to witness.”

Ty Lee nodded sadly. “She wasn’t… she wasn’t the Azula from before. Her aura was messed up, and she was so wild.” The note of empathy in her voice was obvious.

“She stayed like that for a month or so, and then she started becoming unresponsive and just ignoring everyone,” Suki continued. “I can’t say it wasn’t a welcome change, but we all felt that there was something off about her being so… well, defeated.”

“She wasn’t the sister that I knew,” Zuko agreed. “The staff would take her outside in a chair to get sunlight, and they stopped sedating her unless they were planning to move her, but according to them she was just… quiet. She wouldn’t really talk to anyone who went to see her, even after the Kyoshi Warriors told her about her sentence.”

“Zuko didn’t want to bring her that news, but I think she expected from the start that the other nations would demand retribution for what she did,” Suki added. “She seemed like she had already accepted it when we told her.”

“Like the earthbenders from Haru’s village, when they were in prison,” Katara realized. “She lost her hope.”

Sokka shrugged. “Considering what her hopes were, I’m pretty glad she lost them.”

Aang said nothing, but his grey eyes were filled with guilt.

* * *

“So,” Azula said, “we’re going to a bar to get drinks.”

“Yep! Alton Petrov, the bartender, is super nice, so you should definitely meet him. Plus, I think you could use a drink. Space drinks are the best.”

_ That sounds really nice. _

Azula followed Mori down the hallway, ignoring the odd looks that the two of them got from some passersby while trying to avoid getting hit in the face by her friend’s pale green wings, which were flapping energetically back and forth as she bounced along. The geneticist’s excited nature reminded her of Ty Lee momentarily, but Azula shut that thought down before it could go anywhere.

_ I don’t want to open that box of memories. And it’s not like I can do anything about it, anyway. _

They walked through another automatic door into a small room dominated by a bar counter and several stools. A short man behind the counter was manhandling a disgruntled monkey -  _ not a hog-monkey, a monkey monkey _ \- away from a jug of amber beer, his messy black hair falling in his eyes every couple of seconds, much to Azula’s amusement. Another man in a medical jacket was watching the scene while drinking a glass of fizzy green liquid, and Azula winced as she recognized him as the doctor who she had attacked the previous day. Her pleasant feelings evaporated like water struck by a flame, and she shivered.

_ This isn’t good. _

“Hey, Al! I brought a friend!” Mori was ignorant of Azula’s unease, whether intentionally or not she was not sure.

The man with the monkey, who Azula realized must be Alton the bartender, looked over and raised his bushy eyebrows. “Is this the girl Rick was just telling me about? With the fire?”

_ Oh Agni… _

“Yep!” Mori said cheerfully. “This is Azula, and she’s actually not bad at all! I think she’s really cool.”

“New friend, huh?” The doctor - Azula assumed he was Rick - looked rather suspicious. 

“I- I’m sorry about that. And I won’t set anyone else on fire.” Azula cringed inwardly at her apology, but it would have to do. She was not used to trying to apologize to people. 

Fortunately, the doctor seemed to accept it. “As long as I don’t see a drastic increase in burn wounds in Medbay, I’m fine with you staying around. Not like this place isn’t already chaotic enough.” Everyone else laughed at that, to Azula’s confusion. 

_ Did he just accept my apology? It wasn’t even a good one! _

“I assume you came for drinks?” the bartender asked. “You can sit down at the bar, if you want. Just let me get Pun Pun, he’s being stubborn about this beer.” He picked up the monkey, which was still trying to get into the jug of alcohol, and put it on the floor, from where it scampered over and hid behind a potted plant. “There, now you can sit down.”

Mori promptly took a seat on one of the bar stools, and Azula sat next to her, still feeling very self-conscious. The atmosphere reminded her of the bars in the rural Earth Kingdom - she had been in a couple of them while disguised as a Kyoshi Warrior, and the feeling of being a stranger in disguise was the same. 

“So,” Alton said, “what can I get for you?”

“I’ll have a Tequila Sunrise this time, I think! I’m feeling glowy today.” Mori answered. “Do you have any specific preferences, Azula?”

“Hmm… I don’t know,” the princess mused. Azula had little experience with alcohol in general, and she had no idea what could be had here. She decided to ask the bartender for his recommendation.

“Do you have anything that’s fairly strong, and is hot?”

“Strong and hot? I might be able to mix something up.” Alton handed a glass of translucent red-orange liquid topped with a slice of lemon to Mori, then turned around and started mixing something.

“So, you’re new here.” It was weird, being spoken to by Alton while he wasn’t looking at her, but Azula could tell that she was the one being addressed. “Are you enjoying the station?”

“It’s quite nice, actually.” Azula was not really surprised at her sincerity. 

_ I’m doing better here than I was in prison, that’s for sure. _

“You haven’t been around long, but I’ll tell you, this place is crazy.”

_ Everyone seems to be saying that. Maybe that’s why no one has really reacted to my presence. _

Azula swiveled around on the stool as the door opened behind her, and a familiar crimson lizard walked into the room. 

“Calm down, kid, I’m not here to arrest you. It’s my break,” the lizardman said, “and I need a drink. Bad. You got any Beepsky Smashes, Alton?”

“Definitely, Toes-the-Line,” the drink mixer responded, handing Azula a small glass full of red-and-purple liquid which was emitting scarlet vapor. “Here you are, one Toxins Special. Don’t worry, it’s not actually poisonous, just has a punch to it.” She picked it up and noticed that the glass was warm, before taking a sip. 

_ Definitely hot. Strong too.  _

“So, you doing well with Mori, kid?” 

“Yes, thank you,” Azula said respectfully. The lizardman was trying to be friendly, but he was still an officer, and had authority. She needed to be careful to not aggravate him.

“Glad to hear someone’s having a good day. I’ve had to confiscate shotguns from Cargo again - how they keep getting ordered is beyond me, they’ve been told time and time again that they aren’t allowed to order weaponry without permission. But do they listen? Not a chance.” Officer Line stopped talking to pick up the cup of bubbling yellow liquid that Alton had handed to him, and took a deep draft. “Ah, the taste of justice. This stuff never gets old.”

“Well, I wish you plenty more of that,” Rick said, setting down his now empty glass and standing up. “It’s been a little while since anything actually terrible has happened, and hopefully that trend continues. But I have to get back to Medbay.” With that he walked out the door.

“The taste of justice?” Azula asked, sipping more of her cocktail. The glass was nearly half empty now, and she was starting to feel odd. The princess vaguely realized that she had never consumed strong liquor before - whatever she was feeling, it was new, and not unwelcome.

_ This stuff is strong for sure. _

Her companions laughed. “I’m afraid it’s very much an acquired taste,” the bartender said with a smile. 

“I suppose that would make sense,” Azula responded with a chuckle of her own. Looking over at her friend, she noticed that the mothperson was emitting a strong glow, like sunlight. “Why are you glowing, Mori?”

“It’s cool, isn’t it? The Tequila Sunrise makes you glow! That’s the power of science!”

And, Azula realized, her drink was having effects on her, too. She hadn’t noticed it initially, but whatever the bartender had given her seemed to be accelerating her inner flame. It wasn’t the feeling that came from drive - that was still missing - but an intoxicating rush of energy like rising magma, and Azula was enjoying it immensely. A small azure flame puffed out of her nose as she exhaled deeply.

_ I’m burning again. I’m alive again. _

“Whoa, you seem to be feeling pretty excited over there!” Azula couldn’t tell whether Mori’s excitement was because of her personality or the alcohol, and she didn’t care. The feeling of camaraderie was enthralling.

“Absolutely. Whatever this stuff is, it’s doing wonders for my fire. I haven’t felt this warm, well, in a while.” 

“Feeling in your element, huh?” The joke went over Azula’s head for a moment, but then she laughed, loud and genuine. 

_ Did he even make that joke intentionally? It’s still funny. _

“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor, Officer Line!” The glass was almost empty. Azula took a final gulp as Mori wheezed with mirth, her glasses bouncing askew on her nose. 

“You wouldn’t happen to have another one of these handy, would you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Space alcohol is crazy stuff. Makes sense, since everything else on Space Station 13 is incredibly chaotic. 
> 
> On a more serious note, did I do a good job of portraying Azula's needle phobia? Feedback is more than welcome - I'd like to do a good job with this absolute crack fiction, at least. 
> 
> Also, note that we won't be seeing the Gaang in space for a while yet - they have to run around a bit more before Aang figures out how to make transdimensional travel work. Also, Azula needs to be well-adjusted to her new environment before the Gaang shows up to throw a wrench in things. (Assuming everything doesn't go to heck even before they arrive, that is - as Dr. Rick Thompson said, it's been an awfully long time since anything bad happened on the station...)


	8. Chapter 8

At some point, Azula had ended up back in the genetics lab with Mori. She couldn’t remember exactly how or when it had happened - the two Toxins Specials had imbued her with a raging inferno of energy, and at the time she had been enjoying the rush too much to really notice anything. Now, though, she felt dizzy and drained - and even worse, her emotions were slipping from her grasp.

_ I can’t keep this up. It was nice while it lasted... _

“You know, you’re a really cool person, Azula.” Mori was spinning a donut with a bite taken out of it around one clawed finger. An hour earlier, Azula would have thought this was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen, but now she could only hear the undeserved compliment.

“You can’t possibly mean that, no one likes me.” 

“Don’t say that! I think you’re really nice! Sure, you can be awkward, but you’re really smart and interesting and I love hanging out with you.”

_ But you shouldn’t! You don’t know what I am!  _

“You can’t be friends with me, I’ll just end up hurting you.” Azula had to convince Mori not to like her - the geneticist had been nice to her for no reason at all, and she didn’t want to repay her by inevitably hurting her.

“Why not?”

“I’m… I’m a really horrible person, Mori. I’ve only ever hurt people.”

Azula should have expected her friend -  _ don’t think of her as your friend, you can’t have friends  _ \- not to give up so easily. “Why do you think you’re a horrible person?”

“Because I am! My father was a monster, and he made me into one before I realized what he was. And now all I know is how to hurt people.”

Mori paused, then spoke again, slowly. “So, you did things that you regret, and now you think you’re a bad person because you can’t take them back.”

“You don’t understand - I killed someone! Because my father told me to!” Azula knew that revealing herself was a bad idea, but she had to - she just couldn’t hold it in any longer.

_ Stay away! All I’ve ever done is hurt people! _

“Your father told you to kill someone?” Mori was angry, and Azula realized that, in all the time she had spent interacting with the passionate mothperson, she had never once seen her angry. It was unnerving, but she kept going - there was no way she could stop now. 

“Yes, and I listened. I never understood that he was wrong until it was too late to change anything, because no one ever bothered to really try and tell me that he only cared about me to manipulate me.” Azula wasn’t trying not to cry anymore - reliving everything that she’d thought about and realized while sitting in a cell for two years ached.

“You killed someone, at, what, sixteen? Because your father made you?”

“I was fourteen! And they didn’t die, they came back to life, I don’t even understand how - but I still killed them! And I didn’t even feel bad about it!”

_ Why isn’t she leaving? _

“That’s not actually that weird - you can bring people back to life after killing them if you know what you’re doing.” Mori shook her head. “But - fourteen? Why would anyone tell you to kill someone at fourteen!” 

“Does it matter why?” Azula was starting to feel really tired now - the wonderful conflagration from earlier had left her inner flame completely spent, and the large quantity of alcohol in her system was only making it worse. 

“Yes!” Azula had seen Mori passionate before, but not like this - not this fury, directed strangely not at her, but at her father. She couldn’t disagree on that front, either. “Your father shouldn’t be teaching you to kill people! And you shouldn’t have been left to deal with that on your own!”

“Well, he got his bending taken away and put in prison, which he had coming. But they put me in prison, too, because I was still supporting him.”

“You were fourteen and they put you in prison?” Azula’s vision was starting to blur into a mess of tan moth-fur and tear-streaks, and she felt an overwhelming desire to lay down and recharge.

_ Too much… need to sleep… think... _

“Oh my goodness, Azula, you’re-” 

* * *

Mori had been curious for a while about Azula’s past, but when she tried to discuss it with her, she had noticed that she was reluctant to go into details. She would gladly talk about her bending, which she was obviously passionate about, and she was an avid student of science, but when it came to her personal life Azula was evasive. Mori had assumed that the firebender simply wasn’t the type to discuss personal matters - she could understand that, as she was much the same. It was part of why she enjoyed having Azula as a friend.

Now, though, her silence made a lot more sense. 

After Azula had passed out, Mori had unfolded one of her convertible chairs into a cot and laid her down on it. She was surprisingly light -  _ she was confined for two years  _ \- and she felt oddly chilly, which Mori assumed was a bad sign in a firebender. 

_ She seems to be really tired… maybe she overexerted her fire when she was drinking? _

Whatever the issue was, she would have to hope it would wear off with the alcohol. Azula obviously had hidden depths that Mori hadn’t been aware of, and while she may only have revealed them because she was drunk, hiding one’s mental insecurities would never make them go away. And from what the firebender had told her, she had a lot of them to work through.

Her friend needed help, and Mori knew someone who could assist her.

* * *

Azula woke up to an insistent throbbing pain in her skull, and a feeling of being utterly burned out. It reminded her of how she had felt after her Agni Kai with Zuko - all her energy spent, a blaze that left only dying embers behind. She tried to push the mental images away.

_ You control your memories… memories… oh... _

She had told Mori. She had been drunk and crashing from those Agni-damned fire drinks, and she had told Mori. Who, Azula noticed, was now looking at her with wide eyes, along with a certain scarlet lizardman.

_ Oh no… not again...  _

She tried to stand, but she couldn’t muster up the energy to move properly, nearly falling off the bed. Her guilt-driven desire to reveal herself was joined by fear - she had revealed the fact that she was a monster to these people, who had no reason to treat her well, and she had no idea what the retribution would be.

“Please, don’t...”

“Don’t panic, Azula.” Mori’s voice was calm, with a note of concern. “We aren’t trying to hurt you.”

“That’s what they all said,” the princess rasped, “but it didn’t matter. Just… don’t do anything too bad, please.” She shut her eyes - her vision was still blurred, and her nerves were overwhelming her.

_ Why are you afraid? You know what’s going to happen! _

A scaled hand curled around hers, surprisingly lightly. “Breathe, kid. You need to calm down so we can talk and you can understand.” 

Azula shuddered, then took a deep breath in, drawing on all the breath control that she had learned from a young age. After what seemed like an eternity, Azula managed to center herself, and the room stopped spinning around her.

“Are you better, Azula?”

“I think. Now what, you arrest me?” she added dryly.

“Mori already told you, kid, that wasn’t the plan. So don’t start freaking out.”

“You’re terrible at comforting people, Officer Line.” Mori looked amused for some reason -  _ why is she smiling, shouldn’t they be furious with me? _ “But, yeah, we wanted to talk to you. You told me some things that were really concerning while you were drunk, and Line and I wanted to ask you about it.”

_ Well, here we go. _

“I know. I shouldn’t be here, I’m dangerous, but I am, and I’d rather-”

“Whoa, whoa, kid, don’t get ahead of yourself and assume the worst.” Officer Line said, putting his hands above his head. “We wanted to talk, not arrest you.”

“Talk about what? Me being a monster who is universally hated and has only ever succeeded in hurting people?” Azula said sarcastically.

“First of all, you’re not a monster, kid. That’s just stupid, and thinking of yourself that way’ll keep you from being anything else.” Azula couldn’t help but notice that the lizardman sounded like he’d said those words many times - and she could also tell that he meant them.

“And second,” Mori added, “we have no intention of doing anything that you don’t agree to. We wanted to ask about what happened to you that led to you showing up here.”

Azula sighed, realizing that she was in no position to refuse their request, and that as far as interrogation went, she had gotten quite lucky. “Fine. But if you try anything-”

“We already said we won’t, kid. And anything you say in this room stays between the three of us.”

_ I guess I’ll have to trust them on that. Trust. Shouldn’t be too hard. _

“What do you want to know?” Azula’s voice was terse, but neither of them commented on it.

“Well, we had a few questions,” Mori started. “But if there are details you don’t want to go into, then don’t.” The mothperson was trying to smile, though Azula could tell that she was upset. “So, first - what did you mean when you said that your father told you to kill someone?”

“My father - Ozai - was the Fire Lord. As in, the ruler of the Fire Nation-”

She was interrupted by Mori’s sudden laughter. “So you’re Princess Azula! That’s really neat!” She stopped talking when Officer Line looked at her seriously. “Sorry, go on.”

“Yes,” Azula responded wryly. “But to continue, my father was the Fire Lord, and he insisted on cultivating me as his heir, since he considered my older brother Zuko a failure. And at the time, I did not realize - or perhaps I couldn’t admit - that I should never have been loyal to him.”

“And part of your loyalty to him was fighting for him? Even though you were fourteen?” Mori looked flabbergasted, which amused Azula. 

“The Fire Nation was waging a war of conquest against the rest of the world. As a firebending prodigy and strategic genius, my father had me pursue my brother and uncle, who had turned traitor. I killed the Avatar - the incarnation of the world spirit and master of all four elements - while attempting to capture them, but he was somehow revived.”

Mori and Officer Line looked at each other, horror on their faces.

“How did you end up in prison? You mentioned that,” Mori asked.

“I was on the wrong side of the war, obviously. The Avatar defeated my father, and my brother and uncle joined him, with my brother becoming the new Fire Lord. I was… not in the best mental state, and I was defeated and imprisoned. And, as my father’s right hand and favorite weapon, there were a lot of demands from the other nations for my punishment.” 

“Well,” the lizardman finally said, “a fourteen-year-old shouldn’t be prosecuted as an adult - especially not one who is mentally unstable and was raised by a power-mad warlord. No offense, kid.”

_ None taken. I know that’s what I am. _

“And no one tried to defend you?” Mori looked flabbergasted. “I mean, I get that your father was an absolute prick, but you didn’t have anyone else, like your brother, who cared about you?”

“As I said, my brother was under a great deal of pressure from the Earth Kingdom in particular, they demanded retribution for the coup I staged in their capital city. And Zuzu has always been too well-meaning for his own good.” Azula sighed. “And I never really had friends - I was always a very controlling and demanding person, thanks to my father’s insistence that any type of feeling would make me weak. I hurt everyone who ever tried to get close to me.”

_ And look where that got us both, Father. Idiot. _

“How can you talk about this so… calmly?” Mori was… crying? 

Azula shrugged. “I suppose I had accepted it. Oh, I fought at first, but eventually I realized that I had just been on the losing side, and consequences are consequences. The only reason I ended up here was because of an… well, an accident really..”

There was a long pause as the geneticist and the security officer looked at each other.

“Well,” Line finally hissed, “I don’t think you’re a threat to the station. And as long as you continue not being a threat, you’re more than welcome to stay as far as I’m concerned.”

_ What? _

“Why don’t you think I’m a threat?” Azula was astonished. 

“Because you haven’t acted like one, kid,” the lizardman said calmly. “All we’ve seen is you being a good person. Sure, you’re nervous, which makes sense considering what you’ve been through. But you, kid, are not someone who should be spending a life in jail - and trust me, I’d know.”

“Also,” Mori added, “we don’t know how to send you back to wherever you came from, and considering what you told us, I don’t think we should anyway. So you’re going to be staying on the station for a while.”

“I… I really don’t understand why you’re doing this, but… thank you?”

_ They’re just going to… ignore everything that I’ve done? _

“We’re doing it because you don’t deserve to be judged by us for things you did two years ago that you’re obviously very sorry you did, and that it sounds like you’ve already suffered a great deal for,” Officer Line responded. “And since you can’t really go back, I guess this is a really good second chance for you, kid.”

_ A second chance… I like the sound of that. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a nightmare to write in a way that didn't seem stupid, and I'm still not confident I did a good job with it. Support or criticism would be especially appreciated here. This is my first time writing any kind of redemption arc (if what's going on here can even be considered a redemption arc), so this might be... suspect.


	9. Chapter 9

“More water?” 

Azula sighed and handed Mori her glass so she could refill it from the laboratory sink. The geneticist had insisted that she drink as much as she could - apparently it helped with hangovers - and, sure enough, she had begun to feel less groggy. Her inner fire, though, was still painfully weak.

_ That drink was too much - I can’t support any fire like this. I don’t have the drive for it. _

“Good. You need to stay hydrated - alcohol is very dehydrating. And it probably won’t go away fully until tomorrow morning - you have to sleep these things off a lot of the time, unfortunately.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, we firebenders tend to sleep when it gets dark regardless. Fire needs fuel, after all.” Azula was eating a bowl of noodles, which, to her delight, were as spicy as those made in the Fire Nation, while Mori was enjoying some fluffy yellow cake. They hadn’t spoken much while eating - the revelations from earlier had been a lot to take in for both of them, Azula assumed. The princess was fine with that - she was absolutely famished - but she knew the silence would have to break eventually.

_ I need to ask what I’m going to do next. And… to be honest, it’s nice to talk.  _

After finishing her fiery noodle bowl, Azula waited for a few minutes before finally speaking.

“So, Mori, what should I do here?”

“What do you mean?” the mothperson mumbled, her mouth still half full of cake. 

“I mean, what am I supposed to do here? I don’t really have a purpose, and I’ve never enjoyed being idle.” The fact that she had been forced to mark time in a cell for two years was implied.

“Well, what do you enjoy doing?” 

“Committing murder and overthrowing other nations for a tyrant, obviously,” Azula quipped. 

Mori rolled her eyes and sighed. “You certainly didn’t seem to enjoy it when you were talking about it earlier. And what I’m asking is, like, what makes you happy?”

Azula thought for a moment before responding. “Well, I really enjoy firebending, I always have, but I’m not really capable of doing it right now. And I find that I get a lot of joy out of learning new things - those conversations I had with you were excellent. But, in terms of leisure activities, I never figured out what I liked. Father never really approved of it.”

“I’m liking your father less and less the more I hear about him.” 

“Get in line, I suppose.”

Mori laughed. “You know, you’re really funny.”

“I’ve been told that before. But I imagine it means more when the person who is giving you the compliment isn’t forced to follow you.” 

Azula would have expected Mori to be concerned, but instead she simply smiled. “Yeah, it does.” Her friend -  _ I guess I can think of her as a friend? This is what actual friends are like, right? -  _ put down her fork and looked at her. “But you do seem like the sort of person who has a hard time not having some kind of drive - makes sense, I’m the same way. So it would be a good idea to figure out something for you to do.”

_ Having some kind of drive… as in firebending? _

“Well, could I help you with your work?”

Mori pondered for a second. “No, that wouldn’t work - genetics is a slow job anyway, I don’t need any assistance. But getting a job on the station is a great idea! We’re short-staffed in a lot of places - it just depends on what you want to do, I’m sure any of the department heads would be glad to have someone as talented as you.” The mothperson’s eyes sparkled with excitement behind her glasses.

Azula considered her options. Getting a job on the space station seemed like the best idea to keep herself occupied, but she knew almost no one, and she was still getting used to the advanced technology. And she was pretty sure that most people wouldn’t be nearly as sympathetic about her past actions - it was still difficult to understand that Mori and Officer Line had been willing to simply ignore what she was and give her the second chance that she had longed for.

_ I should probably stay near Mori, if I can. She’s been… really kind, so far, for no reason, and I don’t think she has any intention of harming me. I need an ally. _

“Is there any way I could stay in the Science department?”

“Yeah!” Mori was ecstatic at the prospect of Azula staying close by - a sentiment that Azula herself could agree with. “We’re really lacking in people here - it’s just me, Research Director Kena, and Erzor in Robotics. And there’s actually a sub-department open that no one’s working in. Here, come check it out!” Her friend leapt from her seat, scattering some cake crumbs on the floor, and bounced over to another door that Azula had not yet been through. The princess stood up to follow her, ignoring the lingering dizziness of her hangover. 

After opening a couple more doors, they stepped into another laboratory, though this one was very different from the genetics office. There were multiple cages with reinforced windows and sliding doors, as well as a console and other unusual machines that Azula hadn’t seen before, but her eyes were drawn to the enclosure at the far end of the room. It was twice the size of the others, and inside lay three slowly pulsing blobs of gray gelatin, like nothing Azula had ever seen before. 

“This is the xenobiology lab! It’s one of the really experimental things on our station - Centcom has been begging us to find someone willing to work here.” 

Azula was intrigued. “From what you said about scientific disciplines earlier, I assume that means I’m studying unknown lifeforms?”

“Yep!” Mori looked proud that Azula knew what she was talking about. “The ones that Nanotrasen are really interested in are those slimes - you’re looking at them over there.”

“Those grey ooze-things?”

“Yeah.” Mori leaned in close. “They’re asexual - they reproduce by division - and supposedly their extracts can react with certain reagents to produce other substances, but these ones don’t really do much. The whole plan is to breed them and see if it’s possible to make different varieties that produce things that are more valuable, but no one’s been interested in taking that responsibility on.”

“So my job would be to supervise them and take notes on how they mutate?” This sounded perfectly doable - and the idea of working in a cutting-edge field of research appealed to Azula immensely.

“Basically, yeah! Centcom sent us a bunch of instructions on how the equipment here works and what you’re supposed to do. I haven’t read all of them - I have my own job to keep track of - but none of it seems too hard, from what I saw.”

_ I can definitely work with this. _

“That sounds… very nice, actually. I suppose if I’m going to be working, managing some lazy slime-things is preferable.”

Her friend laughed. “Yeah, it does sound nice. We just haven’t had enough staff to do anything with them. But if you want to, I’m sure Director Kena could be convinced to let you on board.”

“Well, I am known for being good at convincing people. As a princess, one has to be.” Azula smirked at the thought of having something to do again. Even if it did involve managing a bunch of gelatinous organisms.

“That could come in handy,” Mori said as she opened the door leading back to the genetics lab. “But you know what else could come in handy?”

“Let me guess, more donuts.”

* * *

“You know,” Azula confessed, “I don’t think I’ve ever really had friends before.”

“What do you mean? I mean, surely you couldn’t have gone your whole life without being friends with someone.” Mori was surprised - it made sense, she hadn’t known Azula for long.

Azula shrugged. “Well, I had Mai and Ty Lee - they were, well, they were the daughters of other nobles who I got to know when I was younger. I thought they were my friends at the time, I think, but I realized later that they only tolerated me because they were afraid of me.” She was glad to open up, though she also wanted to be careful not to shock her friend too much. 

_ Is she my friend? I can’t really tell. I hope so - but I haven’t been good with friends... _

“When did you finally learn that?” Mori asked gently, snapping her out of her internal debate.

“They betrayed me,” the princess responded simply. “I was trying to hunt down my brother, and they refused to follow me over him. I imprisoned them in return, of course - I didn’t understand why they left, why they committed treason. And by the time I did… well, I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone at that point.”

“They never came back to ask how you were doing?”

“Why would they, it’s not like I was ever really a friend to them.” Azula sighed, her memories were never pleasant to live through, but it felt good for someone to just be listening and not criticizing her or blaming her. 

_ Agni only knows I’ve already had plenty of time to understand that I was wrong. But I still don’t know what’s right, or even what that means. _

Mori frowned, picking up another donut. “They don’t sound like nice people. I mean, I know you had family who weren’t your dad, but it seems like they didn’t care about you.”

Azula chuckled dryly. “They had all moved on, Mori. Zuzu had friends, and he had Uncle, and he had a country to rule. No one remembered me, at least not until the Earth Kingdom started asking for my head.” The firebender sighed. “To think that I listened when my father told me that caring about others was a weakness. Look where that left me.”

“I still don’t understand why you weren’t able to defend yourself, though. Did they just not listen to you?”

“As I said, I was… well, I was insane.” Azula did not want to relive those nightmarish weeks in which her mind had been at war with itself, trying to grapple with the slow realization that everything she had relied on for her entire life was wrong. “And when I finally regained my mental stability… well, it wasn’t exactly like I could take back all the things I had done. In a way, I was being more helpful to my family by staying in prison.”

“That’s ridiculous!” The geneticist was infuriated - it was interesting, Azula couldn’t really remember a time when someone had been angry for her sake. “You’re really smart, and you obviously want to help people and are trying really hard not to be a bad person. They should be glad for your help - if I were leading a country, not that I would want to, I’d definitely want your help. And they’re your family and friends, they should be trying to help you!”

Azula was surprised at “You sound like you’ve experienced this yourself.”

Mori shook her head. “Not me - Officer Line. I can’t really tell you - he’d have to do that himself - but he does have a complicated past, too. That’s why he was so sympathetic when I told him about what you were dealing with.”

Azula considered for a second - as a matter of fact, she did remember the lizardman seeming sympathetic, which was unusual considering what she had seen of his demeanor. And he had managed to calm her when she was having a panic attack, too.

_ He might be a good person to talk to, if I need assistance. But hopefully I won’t. _

The firebender yawned - it was getting late, she could feel it. “I think I need to sleep. If I’m going to be interviewed for a job tomorrow I had best be awake.”

“Definitely,” Mori agreed. “I’ll walk you over to the dorms.” She stood up and walked to the door. Azula followed suit, already thinking about what the next few days would be like. For the first time in a long time, she was looking forward to the future. 

* * *

“We’re getting close,” Aang shouted - they were flying through a strong high-altitude windstream, and it was difficult to hear anything over the wailing, even as he did his best to keep the gale from hitting them.

“Of course the swamp wants to hit us with another windstorm as soon as we show up,” Sokka groaned. “This is ridiculous.”

“It may not be a coincidence, either,” the Avatar responded, still speaking as loudly as he could manage - which was very loud, considering he was an airbender. “I’ve felt more spiritual forces than normal since… well, since whatever happened. And I saw… something, last night, while I was asleep. I think it was a dark spirit, but it wasn’t like any spirit I’ve ever seen - it was hard to describe, like a giant black shadow. I can’t even really remember what it looks like.”

“I guess the spirit world was disturbed by what happened just as much as everyone else!” Zuko yelled. “It’s not surprising that things are out of balance.”

“Well, we’re going to find out and fix this problem,” Aang responded. “But I’m starting to wonder just how crazy this adventure is going to get.”

“Considering we’re probably going to have to go to a completely different universe, I’d say pretty crazy,” Sokka said, frantically holding onto the saddle as Appa began to descend towards the Foggy Swamp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ominous black shadow approaches*
> 
> So, Azula is trying to become a full-fledged member of the Space Station 13 community - good for her, she needs something to do. I'm really looking forward to starting to write Xenobiology Azula - it's my favorite role in the game, and it provides plenty of potential for chaos. Of which I promise, there will be a lot. I just have to build up to it.


	10. Chapter 10

As Appa landed at the base of the enormous banyan tree that made up the heart of the Foggy Swamp, the Gaang were immediately greeted by Huu, despite it being evening. The old plantbender waved at them, and several nearby vines twisted with the motions of his hands.

“Welcome back to the swamp, friends!”

“Indeed,” Mai said dryly. “I forgot - no one wears pants here, do they?”

“Nope!” Huu drawled. “We live in harmony with nature here. That’s how I knew when you were coming - I can feel the connections between everything.” He tapped his bare, muddy foot on the bark of the roots they were standing on.

“It’s really cool,” Aang agreed excitedly. “Huu taught me a lot of important stuff about the spirit world after the war ended - especially how to navigate it. So he’s the best person there is to help us find Azula.”

“So, you need help finding someone, was it? I got your message yesterday morning - you didn’t give me much information, but it sounded important.”

Aang nodded seriously. “Very important - we had to write it really quickly. Did you feel a weird spiritual disturbance a couple of days ago, on the solstice?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. I was meditating, you know, and then I felt this sudden surge of new bonds - ones I’ve never felt before.” Huu shrugged. “They were only there for a few seconds, too - almost as soon as I pinpointed them, they were gone again. Really strange. You wanted to ask me about that?”

“Well, yes,” the Avatar said, embarrassed. “I was kind of the cause of it, actually. I was trying to take Princess Azula’s bending, since she was sentenced to lose it - but I knew I shouldn’t have, it was wrong but I didn’t want to speak up and ruin the peace agreements-”

“Aang, you need to get to the point,” Zuko interrupted. “We need to find Azula before we unpack any of that - the longer she’s on the loose, the more dangerous things will get - both for us, and for her.”

The airbender nodded, though he was still frowning. “So, yeah, I accidentally opened some kind of rift between universes while I was energybending, and Azula fell through it? And we need to go find her, and I think I know how to open the gate again but I don’t know where she is. And, well, you’re an expert on connections?” he finished lamely. 

“Well, that does sound like a predicament,” Huu said calmly. “So, your issue seems to be that you can’t locate her, since she’s in a different dimension that you don’t know?”

“Yeah,” Aang responded. “I’m sure it’s possible to, but I’m not sure how to start.” 

There was a long silence as Huu pondered what the Avatar had said. The rest of the Gaang looked around nervously at their surroundings, or slapped at the swamp insects. Katara was practicing moving some of the nearby vines - she had learned the skill on one of Aang’s earlier visits, and the watery vegetation was good for practicing.

Finally, the swamp sage spoke. “You know, Aang, it seems like you’re just not thinking broad enough,” Huu mused. “Don’t you remember when we first met, I told you everything was connected?”

“I mean, yes?”

“That doesn’t change, does it? Different vines, different places, different universes? Still all connected. It’s not about where they are, it’s about what they are.” Huu smiled broadly. “You might have to work a little harder, so it’s a good thing we have the swamp to help with that, ain’t it?”

* * *

_ “I love you, Azula. I do.” _

_ Her mother was staring at her from the other side of the large, ornate mirror, that infuriating soft, sad smile on her face.  _

_ How dare she act like she cared!  _

_ “No! No you didn’t!” Azula was burning wildly, hurt and betrayal coiling in her chest as she screamed. “You cared about Zuko, and you acted like I was a monster! And then you left both of us with him and never came back!” _

_ The woman frowned. Her face looked eerily like Azula’s own, but her hair was perfectly groomed, while Azula could feel her own bangs, uneven as she had sliced them on the day of the comet. It was infuriating, how she could just stand there unfazed as everything had gone up in flames around her. _

_ “You were supposed to protect me, mother! You were supposed to be there!” _

_ Ursa only looked at her silently, still smiling wanly as the mirror blurred, replaced for a moment by prison bars before it came back into focus, but now Azula was staring into the brilliant gold eyes of her brother. His formal regalia was a near exact replica of the robes she was wearing, but he was wearing the golden flame headpiece of the Fire Lord, and his clothes fit neatly on his frame, while Azula’s were slipping, falling off. Just like everything else. _

_ “You ruined my life, Azula!” His words burned like fire, like her father’s hands on her wrists, and she desperately tried to deflect them, despite the fact that she could never manage to overcome what she had done. _

_ “We both ruined each others’ lives, Zuzu! Father made us fight each other, can’t you blame him?”  _

_ “No, Azula! You hurt me too, it was all you ever did! You never even cared about me!” Zuko’s face was twisted with fury. Azula averted her eyes, but she couldn’t shut him out. _

_“I know! But I wanted to try again! Couldn’t you give me that opportunity?”_ _She was bitter with anger, fueled by the undercurrent of guilt - she knew she was wrong, but she just wanted to try again, to live - and Zuko had given in, hadn’t even told her personally when the Earth Kingdom decided that she had to lose the last thing she had left._

_ “No, Azula. You’re crazy and you need to go down.” The figure before her wasn’t Zuko - it was her uncle, his gray hair and that serious expression he always wore when he looked at her. Azula was furious. _

_ “You helped Zuko!” she wailed. “You helped him! Why didn’t you help me?” _

_ The Dragon of the West frowned, glaring at her. “Because Zuko always had the potential for good inside him. But you…” _

_ “...you were a monster. Just like me.” Her father leered at her from the mirror. _

_ “No,” Azula gasped, “I’m not…” Her eyelids fluttered as her surroundings grew dark, lit only by distant, hovering shards of… red crystal? Fire?  _

_ The carmine glow drew nearer, and now Azula could see what the luminous shards were attached to - a carapace of dark metal, or something uncannily like it - and felt a fetid, bitter wind accompanying it. She could hear an uncanny scraping, breathing, and there was a toneless voice rapidly growing louder, though she couldn’t make out what it was saying… _

Azula awoke with a start, vaguely making out the figure of Officer Line standing over her, one hand shaking her shoulder roughly. The air felt strangely warm around them, and she recalled the feeling from the creature she had just seen.

_ My dream… bad dream… ugh... _

“Kid, you need to get up. There’s a radiation storm approaching and we need to get into maintenance where there’s shielding. Come on.”

Azula pulled herself to her feet with the help of the lizardman, who promptly dragged her along towards an as yet unknown destination. There were other people moving, too, many of them in different directions that she’d never been in. She wasn’t really focusing on anything as she followed Officer Line, though - the nightmare that he had unwittingly pulled her out of was still fresh in her mind, and she was trying to sort through it. It was one that she had experienced in many different forms since the day of Sozin’s Comet, but for one thing.

_ I’ve never seen that black thing before. And I’ve already almost forgotten what it looks like… the red crystals are all I can remember. They remind me of something, but I can’t figure out what. _

Officer Line walked up to a different door - unlike the main doors Azula had walked through, which were painted white to match the floor, this one was grey, almost melding into the walls except for the yellow stripe down the center. The door opened, revealing a narrow, unlit hallway filled with cables, which the lizardman strode into. Azula followed him, peering into the sudden darkness.

“Hey, you two made it!” Azula was reassured to hear Mori’s voice, even if she couldn’t quite make out the mothperson’s figure as her eyes were still adjusting to the lack of light.

“Yep,” Officer Line responded. “And they gave us a good bit of warning as always - the main storm hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Nanotrasen may be a lot of things, but they have reliable space-weather forecasting,” Mori agreed. She turned to Azula, who had gotten a bit more night vision. “How are you? I know you probably don’t want to be woken up in the middle of the night, but getting bathed in radiation sucks!”

“I’m actually grateful, believe it or not. You woke me up right out of a really unpleasant recurring nightmare.” Azula was very tired, sure, and still not quite awake, but she wasn’t mad at her friends for trying to protect her. 

_ And I didn’t have to go through that nightmare again. Agni, I hate those… they’re just painful and useless. _

“Nightmares, huh? I guess that explains you breathing hard when I woke you up.”

“Yes, it would. But I woke up, and they’re about my past, they don’t really matter at this point.” Recalling something from the end of her dream, Azula tried to remember what was attached to the red crystals she had seen, but her musings were interrupted by an alarm and a wave of heat washing over her, breaking her concentration. 

_ I don’t really think it matters anyway… it was just… concerning. _

“And that’s the main wave of radiation,” Mori said. “It’s not harmful to us in here - maintenance has really thick shielded walls, since this is where all the cabling is - but if we were outside we’d be having a bad time.”

“Well, I’m glad I had you two to wake me up, then. And of course not having to suffer through more of that nightmare I was having is nice.”

“Anytime, Azula, anytime,” Officer Line hissed, as the three of them waited out the radiation storm together.

* * *

Aang had been sitting at the base of the banyan tree for two hours, trying to reach Azula through the spirit vines. Most of the rest of the Gaang had fallen asleep, with only Huu, Sokka, and Katara remaining awake as the Avatar struggled to form a connection with the missing princess. 

Finally, he stood up. “Is there any reason you can’t do this, Huu? You’re way better at this than I am, and I’m not getting anywhere.”

The old spiritualist shook his head. “Aang, if I tried I wouldn’t be able to come close. I’ve never met this lady, and from what I understand, you know her… well, a bit better than you’d like.”

“I never really did know her, though,” Aang lamented. “I guess I had other stuff to do, but I never tried to help her when she was imprisoned. And now I can’t find her because of that, and all this stuff… it’s my fault.” 

“I think you got to know her a bit too well, considering she chased us and nearly killed you,” Sokka quipped. With that, silence fell again as they waited with Aang.

“No, wait, Sokka! You’re a genius!” Aang’s voice rang out unexpectedly.

“What do you mean?” Katara asked. 

“She almost killed me, remember!” Aang pulled off one shoe, revealing his bare left foot and the lightning scar on the sole. “I bet that’s a really strong connection.” Without further ado, he stomped into the bark of the roots. There was a loud rustling and a rush of wind as the Avatar’s eyes glowed with a blinding white light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came together really quickly, both in my head and on the page. It's a bit shorter, true, but it pushes the plot along nicely. (At the cost of Azula having a bad time with her dreams, but seriously, after being essentially abandoned by everyone who she ever knew, who wouldn't?)
> 
> And don't worry, the Gaang still isn't ready to go on the ultimate vacation yet. We've got a little longer before that happens.


	11. Chapter 11

Other than the nightmare and radiation storm waking her up in the middle of the night, Azula had slept quite well, and she was wide awake and alert as the sun. She, Mori, and Toes-the-Line were eating breakfast in the genetics lab - Azula wasn’t sure why the security officer had chosen to join them, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t glad. There was something about the cranky old lizardman that she felt some solidarity with.

This morning’s breakfast consisted of yogurt - not much like the yogurt Azula had experience with from the Fire Nation, as it was oddly flavored and not spiced, but recognizable as yogurt nonetheless. There was also yet another box of donuts, which Mori was eagerly devouring. Officer Line, however, was not eating either of those things, instead having chosen to consume a large steak of unknown origin. Apparently lizardmen were carnivorous. 

_ Who would have guessed, hm? _

“It’s always donuts, huh Mori?” Officer Line was saying. “I swear, the chef probably has to have an entire fryer dedicated to your supply.”

“Probably gets them shipped straight from Centcom!” The geneticist was in a very good mood - Azula was well aware by now that she was a morning person, but she seemed even more excited than normal, and the firebender wasn’t sure why. 

“So, Azula! I got you an interview with Director Kena right after lunch!” Mori beamed at her, and Azula allowed herself a small smile back. Her friend’s enthusiasm really was infectious.

_ Ah, that would explain it. She’s looking forward to having me as a coworker. _

“Well, I’ll be sure to be on my best behavior,” Azula responded dryly. She was quite sure of her chances in getting the job - she knew that someone was urgently needed to fill the position, and therefore she had an advantage - but it did well to be careful.

“And,” Mori fake-whispered, her eyes gleaming with excitement, “I codified your firebending mutation! It took ages - the relevant alleles were scattered in a bunch of different places - but I did it!”

“So… you can just give people firebending now?” This, Azula knew, was a revolutionary development indeed. She had been thinking about the ramifications of it ever since Mori had brought up the possibility.

“Well, I don’t know for sure, since you said it’s partly spiritual, but I can do the genetic stuff!”

Azula thought for a moment, her yogurt now ignored in favor of discussing this new advancement. “Well, I know that nonbenders still have chi, which is what benders rely on. So, theoretically it would be possible, but we would have to… test it, somehow.”

“Well, giving someone the mutations I can do pretty easily! We’d just have to find someone who would be willing to try and learn to firebend.” Mori seemed absolutely ecstatic at the prospect, and Azula couldn’t say she disagreed. 

_ This is… revolutionary. Scary, too, but revolutionary. And the Avatar can take people’s bending - why shouldn’t we be able to give it back? _

“I could.” Officer Line’s voice was unexpected - he had been rather quiet, with Mori doing most of the talking throughout breakfast. 

“Really? I wouldn’t have expected you to want to be a test subject, Line.” Mori looked very confused, and Azula couldn’t blame her - it did seem out of character for him.

The lizardman looked deep in thought. “There’s old tales about lizardmen, a long time ago, being able to breathe fire,” he mused. “And, well, I don’t know much about what our culture was like - there aren’t many who do, nowadays, but if I got an opportunity to reconnect with it in some way… well, I’d be glad to take it.” He shrugged somberly. “It won’t be the same, but it’s something.”

Mori nodded seriously. “Yeah, I see what you mean. And I can definitely do that, as long as the Head of Security is all right with it.”

“Oh, he’ll be fine with it. Might even find it a good idea. It’s not like anyone ever really cares about things here.” There was something implied in the latter half of that statement, Azula realized, but she couldn’t tell what. 

“Well, I guess that works. And Kena’s given me pretty free rein, I doubt she’ll care much. Just more research to her.” Mori sounded a bit annoyed, too, but that vanished when she turned to Azula. “Are you all right with Officer Line becoming a firebender?”

Azula was very confused. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because it’s your culture, kid,” the lizardman said. “And that’s important. I don’t like watching people run around with fake lizard ears and tails on and talking in stupid ‘lizard language’ or whatever.”

“And I don’t like it when people make stupid assumptions about my species’ interest in bright lights, either,” Mori added seriously. “So, if you don’t want us appropriating something that you’ve told me is really culturally important to you, then yeah. We won’t.”

Azula was conflicted - she felt glad that they had respect for Fire Nation culture and firebending, but at the same time, a surge of guilt welled up in her chest. 

_ They could be dismissing my nation as inferior - and maybe they wouldn’t be wrong - but they’re not, and I’m glad.  _

“It’s fine,” she heard herself mumble, looking down at the floor. “I don’t mind.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Azula sighed. “Just another mistake I made,” she gritted out. “It’s nothing you did.”

“Don’t worry about it, kid.” The lizardman looked at her, and Azula thought she could catch a gleam of friendly scheming in his slitted yellow eyes. “And, you know, I’m going to need someone to teach me how to do this ‘firebending’ thing, aren’t I? And… well, it’s not like there’s anyone else with experience in it, is there?”

“So, you want me to teach you how to firebend?” 

“Yes. I think it’s the best way to ensure that I don’t miss any of the cultural aspects of it.”

Azula thought for a moment, wondering whether she could handle what her friends were asking. She decided that she could. 

“Well, I’m no Fire Sage,” she said dryly, “and being in prison for two years has probably made me rusty. But I can definitely help you get started. We will need a place to train, though.”

The lizardman smiled toothily. “Well, fortunately Nanotrasen decided that one of the amenities that our station needed was a training ring. I guess it might actually be useful for something besides giving us security officers fights to break up for once.”

“Well, if you two are ready, I can fabricate the injector and we can just… well, inject the mutation virus!” Mori rolled her chair over to the genetics console and began opening the interface.

Officer Line rolled his eyes. “I would say, ‘I hope I know what you’re doing, Mori,’ but I know you better than that. Fire away, I guess.”

* * *

“So, we flew one-and-a-half days to a crazy swamp filled with spirits, and now we’re just flying back to Ba Sing Se as if nothing had happened?” Toph was very cranky about being in the air again so quickly, and she was letting everyone know. “Oma and Shu, how hard is it for an earthbender to get some time on normal, solid dirt?”

“I found out what I needed to, though,” Aang responded. He hadn’t spoken very much since they had left the Foggy Swamp - he seemed to be deep in thought. “I know how to connect to Azula, now. And it doesn’t matter that we’re not in the swamp - once I made the connection, I can hold onto it. And we probably need to be in the same place that she went through, otherwise we won’t come out in the right place on the other side.”

“That does make sense,” Sokka agreed. “I mean, we don’t want to land at the bottom of an ocean, so yeah. Might be wise to be careful on that front.”

“Yeah…” Aang looked apprehensive, in a way that made everyone else concerned as well. “I mean, from what I saw of the place Azula is in, ending up at the bottom of an ocean might be the least of our worries.”

“What do you mean, Twinkletoes?” Toph asked. “You sound pretty worried over there.”

Aang winced a bit. “I don’t really know how to explain it, but the place she’s in… it’s so different from anything I’ve ever seen before or imagined. I want to wait until we get back to Ba Sing Se to try and describe it.” He looked at the rest of the Gaang nervously. “I have a feeling that Azula might be the least crazy thing we find there.”

* * *

“So, are you ready for your interview?” 

Azula nodded, smiling sharply. “Yes, I am.”

Her friend beamed. “Great! Kena’s sort of uptight, but you seem like you know how to deal with that.”

“Being royalty does have its benefits,” Azula drawled, smiling a bit more when Mori laughed. 

_ It also has its drawbacks - one being that everyone’s too terrified of you to laugh at your jokes. _

“Well, if you’re prepared, then I’ll walk you over to her office. It’s not far - technically it’s actually right next to mine, but the way Science is laid out means they’re not connected.” 

Azula accompanied Mori out the door, following her through another set of automatic entryways deeper into the science department. She had never been into the research division of Science - she had spent plenty of time in Mori’s genetics lab, and she had caught a glimpse of her future workspace as well as what Mori had told her were the robotics and nanites divisions, but this area was new to her. The firebender looked around, trying to commit her surroundings to memory.

After turning left, they arrived at another door that did not open for Mori, and they stopped. 

“Well, Kena’s in here. I assume she’s already waiting for you, so go on!” Her friend pressed a keypad, and the door slid open in response. “And good luck!”

“I don’t intend to rely on luck, but thank you,” Azula said as she walked through into the Research Director’s office. 

_ Luck never got me anywhere, in the end. But support… that did. At least it did for Zuko. _

“Good afternoon. Azula, isn’t it?.” The voice came from her side - apparently the Research Director’s desk was out of sight of the door. There was something about it that unnerved Azula. “Please, have a seat.”

Azula sat down in a chair - they were noticeably more comfortable than Mori’s - and sized up Director Kena. She didn’t look terribly imposing - she was average in height, with a brown ponytail and slight freckles - but she carried an aura of authority that was very familiar. Azula was immediately reminded of some of the nobles in the Fire Nation court - the ones who were always more cunning and powerful than they looked.

_ Be careful. Don’t trust them.  _

Azula decided to be assertive. “So, I assume you have some questions about why I’m applying to work in Science?” 

If the director was surprised at her initiative, she did not show it. “Yes, I do. First of all, well, what reasons do you have for wanting to take this job?”

“Multiple. First of all, I don’t have any responsibilities currently and I have always needed to… ah, be occupied, shall I say. Second, from what Mori told me, this ‘xenobiology’ is a completely new field of research, and I’ve always wanted to engage in . Lastly, this job apparently involves managing and taking notes on animals, and I have always been good at keeping things in line.” The response rolled off Azula’s tongue easily - she had expected the question, and therefore had come up with an answer beforehand.

_ The funny thing is, I’m not even really lying. _

Director Kena nodded, her fingers knotting together as she looked at Azula appraisingly. The princess was reminded even more of her life in the palace - that look was very familiar to her. The look of someone who wanted to determine your value.

“Well, you do seem highly motivated at least. That’s worth something.” The research director’s tone was still annoyingly condescending. “Now, from what I heard you’re from a completely different place. How come you can understand our language?” That caught Azula off guard.

_ Hmmm… that’s a hard one. I don’t know… but how do I say it? _

“I’m not sure,” Azula said tentatively, “but I would guess that this… dimensional transfer… that happened may have happened before, and that perhaps people from here colonized the place I’m from and carried their language with them. Or at least that’s the theory I made.”

“Dimensional transfer… interesting. I like the way you think, I must say.” Azula was inwardly very pleased with herself - she had been thinking about that hypothesis ever since her first discussions with Mori, and the fact that the Research Director thought it was good thinking told her she was probably on the right track. Sure, it invalidated everything she’d ever been told about the origin of their civilization, but she’d learned a lot of things recently that she would never have believed. And Azula had not survived for as long as she had by holding on to ideas that were obviously wrong.

_ Mori would say I’m thinking like a scientist.  _

She was snapped out of her pondering by the director’s insistent voice. “I have another question. I was informed that you possess a genetic mutation that allows you to generate fire, yes?”

“Yes, firebending. It’s common where I’m from, and important to our culture.”

“I see,” Kena said, reaching over to pick something up off the desk - Azula caught a flash of russet metalwork in her hand, but she couldn’t see the rest of the object. “And you promise not to use it - or any other skills you may possess - to harm Nanotrasen property or employees, or obstruct the mission of the station?”

“Yes,” Azula said dutifully. She was good at making promises. Keeping them, perhaps not so much, but she could worry about that later.

_ And some promises are better not kept. _

“I think we’re done here, then. I’ll have Mori get you a uniform, PDA, and the proper identification, and you can start work tomorrow. I’ll leave the information Centcom sent us in your lab.”

_ Wait, that’s it? _

“I had some doubts,” the Research Director continued, “but you seem highly motivated and intelligent - and I like having those characteristics in my employees. And… you are… interesting.” The object in her hand flashed into view - it was an ornate knife with a strange hooked blade, like nothing Azula had ever seen before. There was a cut crimson stone - a ruby, perhaps - embedded in the handle, and it drew Azula’s eye.

The director noticed her interest, and smiled. “Oh, this? It’s a family heirloom, a very old piece indeed. Curious, isn’t it? Now run along - I’m sure we both have things to do.” Still idly spinning the knife, Kena gestured to the door with her other hand, causing it to open and reveal Mori, who was waiting for her on the other side. Azula followed her directions and walked out, the door closing behind her.

Mori looked over anxiously. “Did you…”

“Yes,” Azula said quickly. “I did.” She might have said something else, had the mothperson not nearly crushed the breath out of her with an enthusiastic hug.

“Yay! I’m so glad! I was worried there, since she sent you back out so quickly, but I guess you convinced her!” Her friend’s joy was infectious, and Azula found herself smiling with her as they both walked back towards the genetics lab. “So, how did you like Kena?”

“Well…” Azula paused, then continued, frowning. “She reminded me of myself a little bit. Before.”

“That’s weird, she seems nice, if a bit stiff. You sure you’re not reading too much into it?”

Azula nodded. “I’m sure.” She had known almost as soon as she met her that Director Kena was someone she would have to be wary of - growing up in a court filled with cutthroat nobles, she had learned early how to recognize when someone wanted to use her, and the brown-haired woman was definitely one of those people.

_ All that experience… and I never realized that my own father was the most manipulative of all. _

“Well, I’ll take your word for it.” Mori waltzed back into her lab, Azula at her heels. “So, want to talk about how to take good notes? It’s a really useful skill to have.”

“Sure,” Azula said, somewhat absentmindedly. She was very glad to have gotten a place on the station’s staff, but she didn’t trust her new supervisor - she reminded her too much of her old self, something she was trying to avoid. And for some reason, her mind kept fixating on the old dagger that Kena had been playing with. 

_ That red gemstone looked familiar… but why? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter - there was a lot to fit in here. Things are starting to come together, oh yes, yes they are... *mad anticipatory laughter*
> 
> Serious question: would you like me to give all the chapters actual titles rather than "Chapter 1" and so on? I have some good ideas, but I'd like to ask what you guys think. 
> 
> And thank you so much for reading this and commenting! I love hearing from you!


	12. Chapter 12

Azula and Mori were sitting in the xenobiology lab, chatting and reading over the large binder of notes that Director Kena had left on the main table. Most of them were detailed instructions on the usage of the different pieces of laboratory equipment, but what information Centcom had obtained on slime biology had also been included, though it was scattered throughout the different pages. The two of them had decided to split up the notes and read through them separately, to expedite the process of finding and highlighting important information - after all, Azula could always go back and look at them later. 

_ Thank Agni for having a good work partner - and maybe a good friend.  _

“So, they eat live monkeys?” Azula said, reading something off a sheet. “No, it says here they can eat anything that’s alive, it just recommends using monkeys. But where do you get the monkeys?”

“Monkey cubes,” Mori responded, still reading through her sheaf of notes. “You inject a monkey cube with water, you get a live monkey. And don’t ask me how, I have no idea. Something to do with genetic modification and matter compaction.”

Azula conveniently ignored the fact that a tiny three-centimeter cube could be turned into a living monkey - some things just weren’t worth worrying about. “I assume I have to go into the pen to feed them the monkeys? I thought the whole point of those cages was to keep them away from me.”

“I think that’s what the slime console is for.” Mori gestured to the pink desktop computer that Azula was sitting next to. “It says here that it has multifunctional bluespace teleporter coverage of the entire lab… whatever that means. It doesn’t really explain it.”

“Hmm… let me look at it.”

Mori promptly handed the offending page to Azula, who looked it over. After inspecting it for a minute, she had an idea about what the instructions meant.

“It's horizontal,” she said. “Like a floor plan, or a map. Here, let me open this and test it.”

Azula spun her rolling chair around and pressed some buttons, quickly managing to open the interface - the computer lessons that Mori had given her were paying off. The screen showed a top-down image of the room’s layout, cages and all, and Azula could see an indicator that moved around the lab. Experimentally, she hovered it over one of the sleeping slimes and clicked a button that said “Pick Up Slime”, and sure enough, the gelatinous creature disappeared into thin air. 

“Hey, it worked! Good thinking!”

“So it did,” Azula mused, still considering the interface. Moving the dot over a little bit, she pressed another button that said “Place Slime”, and the slime reappeared, just a meter or so to the left of its previous location. It barely seemed fazed at being teleported about. 

_ I’m not sure whether that’s because it’s asleep, or because it just doesn’t care. Probably both. _

“Well, that’s cool! It would have taken me awhile to figure that out - I’m not a visual-thinking kind of person.” 

“I’m not terribly visual either - but I’ve gotten used to it. Strategic planning and all that.” Azula was still experimenting with the controls of her console. Mori nodded and started reading over another page.

Azula then noticed something else. “So, this button supposedly uses monkey cubes from the console - according to the instructions, you put them in the console, and it automatically converts them to monkeys and places them at the location of the cursor. So you don’t have to go into the pens at all.”

“Ooh, neat! So it’s really hands off, that’s good to know.” Azula wasn’t sure why Mori was so excited that she was learning about her new job, but it felt good to know that her friend cared.

_ I mean, I don’t know if she’s my friend… but something tells me she is. This is how real friends act, right? _

“It seems so - from what I’m reading here, the console can basically perform all the functions that you need to interact with the slimes. So, yes, hands off.” 

Azula nodded as she continued reading. There wasn’t much more information on the slimes themselves - aside from very basic things such as their feeding and reproduction habits, it seemed most of the notes were on the lab equipment, and Azula was pretty sure that they had highlighted everything important for later use.

“Hey, I found another bit of info on their biology!” Mori exclaimed. “It says here that BZ gas puts them into stasis - which is really interesting, considering that’s a hallucinogen for most carbon-based lifeforms. I was wondering why there was a canister of it piped into the large chamber.”

“So they put them to sleep so they wouldn’t cause any trouble. Just like when I was in the asylum.” Azula noticed Mori’s grimace across the room, but she paid little attention - she was too busy considering the possibilities of the new information she’d just learned. If she could cause the slimes to sleep, she could keep them around without having to feed them. That would almost certainly be important to remember. “Now, I was wondering - is there anything about their color varieties?”

Mori shrugged. “Not much. It says that the gray form is the only one they’ve discovered so far, but that analysis predicts that they can mutate into other colors if you breed them. I guess they just haven’t actually tried.”

“What’s the point, though? I’m not sure why they asked us to do this if these things aren’t useful.” Azula wanted to do something important - she needed responsibility, not an idle occupation. 

“Well, apparently if you process a dead baby slime in the slime processor - that thing we read about earlier, on your right - you get a… slime extract, it says? And if you inject slime extracts with certain reagents then they cause a reaction.”

_ Ah… so they produce catalysts. I imagine there are a lot of possibilities there. _

Mori continued reading. “Like, it says injecting a gray slime extract with blood - weird - will produce… hang on, three monkey cubes? I don’t even want to try and figure out how that works.”

“So then, the point is to see what the different colors’ extracts do?” That made a lot more sense to Azula - if the slimes turned out to be a renewable source of useful products, then breeding them would definitely be worth it. 

“Yeah, I guess? And I mean, like, being able to just breed slimes and then turn them into monkey cubes is really convenient - it means we don’t have to buy them from Centcom. So, lots of possibilities!” Mori was extremely excited now.

“And I’ll be the one to discover them. Finally, something good will come out of my existence.”

Mori sighed. “Azula, why do you insist on acting like you’re some sort of evil being?”

“I am. I’ve been told that by nearly everyone I’ve ever met, at some point. And I’m pretty sure they’re right.”

“They’re not.” Mori looked Azula straight in the eye - something that she didn’t do often. “You’re not evil. You’re a sixteen-year-old girl whose father abused her and threw her into a war that she should never have been involved in. I think pretty much anyone would have a lot to deal with after that.”

Azula sighed. “Regardless, I thought my father was right. And I can’t take that back, or all the things I did in his name - that I enjoyed doing sometimes, even.”

“You can stop listening to him now, though.”

_ Wait… what? _

“I… what do you mean? I haven’t spoken with him in two years - and I’ve spent the majority of that time hating him!” Azula was confused - and more than a little bit irate - as to why Mori would even suggest that she still took her father seriously.

“If you hate him, you’re still listening to him,” the mothperson said calmly. “My psychologist told me that once. You have to ignore negative influences, not hate them. And that goes for everyone who made you think you’re evil, too. They’re wrong, and you have to forget about them if you want to get better.”

_ I am evil, though! How do I ignore everything I’ve ever known? _

“But… how do you do that?”

Mori smiled. “You practice. Just like with everything else. No one is perfect - you’re always trying to improve, and you can’t improve if you’re always dwelling on things you did in the past. Move on, Azula.” The geneticist’s voice was kind, but insistent nonetheless.

“But what’s the point of trying something if I’m not good at it? I’m not a good person - I don’t see why I should even try if I’m not going to succeed.” 

_ I can’t possibly be a good person - not after all the things I’ve done! All I ever did was hurt people, how can I even change what I am? _

“Oh, come on, Azula! I never thought you would be a quitter.” Mori smirked at her. 

“But it’s all just an act!” Azula responded, nearly shouting now. “You can’t possibly understand how hard I have to work to keep myself like this - to try not to be a monster, to not manipulate and hurt everyone around me! It’s all I’ve ever been!” 

“You’re doing what you’re supposed to do, though.” Mori shrugged, then wheeled her chair over next to Azula and put a fuzzy hand on her shoulder. “I know I can’t understand what you went through - no one should ever have to deal with something like that. But I can tell you the same thing my psychologist told me when I told her that all I wanted was to never talk to other people again - you have to keep acting until you don’t have to act anymore.”

“I see,” Azula said - and, she realized, she did see. Maybe it was just Mori’s grip on her shoulder grounding her, or maybe it was something else, but she actually understood what her friend was saying.

_ That’s what my father - Ozai - did. He forced me to act like a monster until I became one. And that means… I can undo the damage he caused. _

Mori nodded. “It’s not easy - like I said, a lot of mental issues are something that you deal with for your whole life. I’ve had horrible social anxiety since, well, forever - my parents took me to a psychologist who helped me work through my fear of interacting with other people. She’s taught me a lot of really useful stuff - and we’re kind of really good friends now, too. But I still have to cope with it.”

“I wish that was the experience I had with mind healing,” Azula said wryly. 

“Yeah, locking someone away for two years doesn’t tend to be conducive to good mental health,” Mori agreed. “And you know what else isn’t? Being hungry - so I’m going to get us some food. We can eat in here for a change, it’s nice in here.” With that, the geneticist stood up and bobbed out of the door, almost certainly heading for the kitchen to get something for dinner. 

_ Undoubtedly, donuts will be involved. _

Azula smiled slightly as she thought about her friend’s obsession with the circular pastries. It was surprising to her, that she would ever fall into trusting and being friendly with someone else so easily, but it felt strangely gratifying. Mori and Officer Line had had no reason to care about Azula, but they had welcomed and assisted her nonetheless. And while they were significantly older than she was, perhaps more like parents than friends, Azula didn’t really mind. If anything, it just meant they gave better advice.

_ Keep acting until you don’t have to act anymore. _

It sounded like something her uncle would have told her - if he had cared enough. Azula didn’t need Uncle, though. She had, she was starting to realize, found her own family.

* * *

“Aang, we really need to talk about what we’re going to do with Azula.” Zuko’s voice broke through the silence after an hour or so of quiet on Appa’s back. 

“That’s assuming we manage to find her,” the airbender responded quickly. “We should probably worry about that first.”

“You’re avoiding the issue as always, Twinkletoes,” Toph interjected. “You’ve got to face it - Azula’s dangerous, and once we find her we’re going to have to capture her somehow, and keep her from causing further problems. And we should probably think about that now, rather than later.”

“I don’t want to, though!” Aang retorted, his voice more strident than usual. “She’s sixteen! Zuko was sixteen when he changed his mind, and now he’s right here with us. I… I just don’t feel right about it.”

“I didn’t say we had to throw her back in prison, I said we had to figure out what we were going to do with her.” There was a sudden silence as everyone stared at Toph - they had not been expecting her to speak in Azula’s favor. The earthbender couldn’t see their gazes, but she did realize that they were all looking at her expectantly.

“Look, Sparky had to get away from his dad for almost four years before he managed to figure out his life,” Toph continued, “and that was with Uncle Tea helping him out the whole time. Azula hasn’t had that - she was stuck with her asshat of a father for her entire life. So maybe-”

“It’s hard to be sympathetic for her after everything she’s done, though.” Mai’s expression was unchanging as usual, but her irritation was evident. “She basically forced us to follow her and then threw us in prison when we finally protested.”

“And then we did the same thing to her,” Toph retorted. “Let me finish what I was going to say. Look, I’ll be the first to admit that Princess Crazy has a lot of problems, and that she’s dangerous and really terrifying. But she's still a kid - schist, she’s a couple of years older than I am. We can’t treat her like she’s her father.”

“But all we’ve ever seen is her acting like him. Are we even sure that she can change?” Katara, who was sitting next to Aang with one arm around him, cut into the conversation.

“I think she could,” Ty Lee said softly. As the rest of the Gaang looked at her in shock, she sighed and kept speaking. “I… well, Azula was really mean a lot of the time, it’s true, but there was a person under there. A person who was… who was really, genuinely nice sometimes. Ozai… he just never let her be that person, and so she ended up getting all twisted and messed up, but the old Azula, the Azula who I was friends with when we first met… I think she’s still under there.” Her voice was shaking slightly.

As Suki pulled Ty Lee into a tight hug, Aang looked around at his friends. “That’s what I was saying. We need to figure out some way to get through to her and help her get through all of the things that Ozai did to her. Locking her away isn’t the right answer, and neither is taking her bending.”

“Then what is the right answer, Aang?” Zuko responded irritably. “She hasn’t said more than a few words to anyone in over a year, and the diplomatic pressure for her to be removed as a threat has just been increasing. I know none of this is ideal, and I wish it could be different, but what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know, Zuko,” Aang said, looking off into the distance. “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another rough chapter to write - the interactions between Azula and her new friends/family/coworkers are getting more emotional and complicated as she starts to realize that they, against all odds, actually care about her. Meanwhile, the Gaang are still just starting to really think about how stupid and cruel it is that they locked a traumatized fourteen-year-old in a prison for two years. Did I mention I really don't like the comics?
> 
> Also, I've decided, after much deliberation, that I'm going to get rid of most of the chapter summaries and alter the description of this fic. I really can't seem to write summaries or chapter titles that won't drive my perfectionist standards nuts, so I'm going to go minimalist.


	13. Chapter 13

“So, how is it as a new member of the Nanotrasen team, kid?” Toes-the-Line quipped, temporarily abandoning his large, rather rare steak. “Corporate family and all that, you know.”

“Personally, I’m just glad to fit in somewhere,” Azula responded, in turn putting down her half-eaten slice of pizza so she could respond. “And I’m quite flattered that you consider me a member of your family.”

Mori rolled her eyes and laughed. “Just don’t start calling us your parents. I’m old, but I’m not that old. Besides, you’re more like my weird cousin who’s twenty years younger than I am.”

_ I’m assuming that’s not meant to be an insult. This isn’t exactly something I’m used to. _

Azula was about to come up with a snappy retort when the door to the xenobiology lab opened suddenly, revealing a tall, lanky man with a mop of short, curly brown hair. He looked surprised, his glance flicking between the three of them, and Azula noticed that there was something off about his eyes. They were an incredibly bright blue, and the whites were oddly blank, lacking the small blood vessels that most eyes had.

“Uhhh… sorry, I forgot that I shouldn’t walk in on people randomly… oh… that’s wrong.” The man stopped talking and simply stood there awkwardly. 

“Oh, it’s fine, Simon. We don’t care, come on in.” Mori waved her hand invitingly, breaking the silence. “So, why’d you show up? You never leave Robotics.”

_ Oh - this is my other coworker. Erzor, wasn’t it? _

“Well… Kena told me that there was someone new in the department and I wanted to meet them. I assume that’s you?” Simon looked at Azula, who looked directly back at him, trying not to wince when his unsettling eyes met hers. She couldn’t help but notice that he shuddered when they made eye contact, too.

“Yes, that would be me.” Azula wasn’t sure what to think of the roboticist’s nervousness, but she wasn’t overly concerned about it. “I’m Azula. And you are?”

“Simon Erzor, roboticist.” Erzor exhaled with relief - he was obviously very self-conscious, and didn’t want to speak first. He looked awkwardly around the room - he seemed to be having trouble deciding what to do next.

Azula decided to make up his mind for him. “Here, just wait and I’ll go get an extra chair for you,” she said quickly, already standing up and moving towards the door. 

“Uhh… ok, cool.” Erzor stepped out of the way, and Azula strode through the door, briskly walking to the unoccupied nanites division below Mori’s lab, where there were a couple of unused rolling chairs. She promptly pulled one back to her workspace - the room was getting a bit crowded, and Azula would definitely end up moving the chairs she’d taken back to their original locations, but for now it didn’t matter.

“There,” the firebender said. “A chair. Now… hmm, will we have enough pizza?”

“I already ate - I don’t usually eat meals.” Erzor had taken a seat, and was now looking around the room, still incredibly awkwardly. “I kind of just eat snacks, while I’m in my office.” Mori nodded - Azula knew that the mothperson also enjoyed snacks - and the room fell silent as everyone else started eating again. The princess went back to her slice of pizza, but Erzor’s eyes continued to unsettle her.

“Pardon me, but why are your eyes so… strange looking?” Azula went ahead and asked him directly - she doubted the roboticist could get any more embarrassed than he already was. Surprisingly, he seemed rather pleased at being asked.

“Oh, they’re cybernetic replacements,” Erzor responded, looking a bit more relaxed. “I suffered from early-onset macular degeneration, and eventually I just ended up having them taken out and replaced.”

“That sounds very useful,” Azula said. It certainly was, in more ways than one - the princess had immediately noticed that the roboticist became somewhat less nervous when he was talking about something he was obviously interested in.

_ Best to remember that for later. _

“Yeah, it is. And part of my job is making more cybernetics if they’re needed - which is kind of important, seeing as losing body parts is a bit more common than it should be on this station.” 

Toes-the-Line chuckled, then hissed, “Well, it’s good to have you and the medical staff around for when things happen.” 

_ Job hazards do seem to be a running joke here. It’s funny, but a little worrisome. _

“Thanks, I appreciate knowing that I’m appreciated.” The roboticist seemed somewhat more comfortable talking now that the conversation was on a more familiar topic, but he still looked nervous. 

_ I think he wants to leave. _

Mori apparently noticed this as well. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, Simon. I didn’t mean to impose when I invited you in earlier.”

“Oh… uhh, thanks. I’m just not exactly up to people stuff at the moment.” The roboticist promptly recused himself, sliding back through the door.

“Is he ever up to being around people?” Azula questioned as he disappeared.

“Not really, at least not ‘people’ plural,” Mori responded. “Simon’s usually fine with just one person, but more than that and he kind of gets nervous. He’s not good with people he doesn’t know, either.”

“Why’d he show up, then?”

“He probably expected you to be in here on your own,” Officer Line mused, “and having us in here scared him off. Unlucky, I guess - but I wouldn’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get more opportunities to talk to him.”

“I hope he doesn’t end up being afraid of me.” Azula didn’t want one of her coworkers to dislike her.

_ I already have to worry about Director Kena. I do not trust that woman. _

“He’s wary of anyone he doesn’t know, in general. I doubt it’s you specifically he doesn’t like.” Mori took a sip of water. “Like I said, everyone in Science has social issues - except for Kena, at least.”

“You don’t seem to have any problems, Mori,” Azula queried. It was odd that her friend made so much mention of her social anxiety, when all Azula had seen was her kind and outgoing nature.

“That’s because I’ve been working on it for my whole life. Like I said earlier, you act until you can’t act anymore.” The mothperson shrugged, then continued. “Simon’s really introverted - he doesn’t really need to interact with other people, so he doesn’t care about his social anxiety most of the time. I manage it more because, even though I’m really anxious, I’m still really extroverted - I need to have people to talk to.”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense.” Azula picked up her slice of pizza again - it was practically begging her to eat it at this point - but then she remembered something. “When Erzor was talking about people losing limbs all the time - was that a joke?”

“Partially,” Officer Line responded, frowning. “But the thing is, Nanotrasen has… enemies. A lot of enemies, and some of them are very powerful. Add that to the fact that there are things in deep space that no one should ever have to know existed, and, well, things get heated here a lot more often than we’d like.”

_ Ah, so that’s it. _

Azula smiled, all sharp edges and fire. “Well, if there’s one thing I have experience with, it’s handling heat.”

_ And I don’t intend to allow anything to happen to my friends. They helped me - I can help them, too. _

* * *

“Incidentally,” Officer Line said, having finished his steak, “I feel like I’ve been a little warmer since Mori injected me with that mutator syringe. Is that normal for firebenders?”

“Yes, that’s a very good sign.” Azula was excited - increased warmth was a trait that firebenders possessed - but she wanted to ensure that the geneticist’s experiment had worked before she tried to teach Line to firebend, and she thought she knew a good way of doing so. “Hmmm… can you hold this for me?” she asked, summoning a small blue flame in her hand and extending it towards him.

“I’m not sure about that one, kid…” Toes-the-Line said warily. 

Azula chuckled. “It’s a test. You don’t have to do anything with it - I just want you to try and touch it, and I’ll feel if it reacts to your chi.”

The lizardman frowned, then carefully reached his scaled hand toward the flame. As the tip of his finger touched it, Azula felt her fire flicker - it was slight, but the reaction was there.

_ It worked.  _

“That’s good - I could feel your hand moving it.” Toes-the-Line retracted his hand rather quickly, and Azula smiled approvingly. “You are a firebender.”

“Pop the champagne, I guess?” Mori quipped. 

“I wouldn’t - I mean, maybe champagne would be fine, but whatever was in that Toxins Special I had a couple of days ago drastically overextended my energy reserves. So… just be careful.”

“Overextended energy reserves?” Officer Line asked, looking confused.

Azula nodded. “There’s a lot to learn. I’ll give you the lecture, later, or maybe tomorrow morning before I actually start teaching you.”

“That sounds fine.” The lizardman then sighed and frowned. “I’ve gotten some comments about me not being trustworthy enough to participate in this experiment from some of the other people in Security, so it might be a good idea to be aware of that when we start working.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that people can’t see past the fact that I have a tail, sometimes,” Officer Line hissed. “It’s not the first time I’ve gotten comments, but for some reason the idea of me being able to breathe fire pisses the racists off. They seem to think it’s not wise to give an animal that kind of power.” The security officer was irate - a feeling that Azula could understand. She felt the familiar leaden onslaught of another wave of guilt.

_ Of course. Another mistake I made.  _

Azula winced internally at this reminder of her past actions - it was all the more proof that her actions had been doomed to alienate her from everyone who could actually care about her. 

_ But I can be different now, right? Since no one here has been hurt by me? _

“That’s… just incorrect,” Azula said. “And that doesn’t mean a lot coming from me, someone who has been that person for most of my life-”

“Means a lot more coming from you, then, kid,” Toes-the-Line responded, “since you’ve learned from experience. At least I’d think so.”

“Thank you,” Azula responded. “That also means a lot. But… well, shouldn’t there be some defense against that? Since it’s obviously not good for keeping the station running to have people hating each other?” She was aware that this was probably an uncomfortably utilitarian view, but it made a lot of sense to her.

“Unfortunately, Nanotrasen’s higher command are… ah, not racial-equity minded,” Mori responded, shaking her head in disappointment. “Most people in higher positions aren’t overtly discriminatory, but there are definitely some people - especially in security - who are aggressive about it, and since nonhumans are barred from taking higher positions-”

“Wait, what?” Azula was shocked. “Why? That’s a blatant waste of talent!”

_ And immoral as well, I imagine, but I don’t know anything about that. _

“I’m not sure, but apparently the United Earth Federation forced Nanotrasen to implement that rule - no idea why.” Mori shrugged. “I don’t exactly understand why, but that’s what they decided. So, yeah. No one ever really does anything about it.”

“So people can just… be racist? Without repercussions?”

“To a pretty great extent, yes,” Toes-the-Line hissed irritably. “Obviously attacking people outright is prohibited, but that doesn’t stop people from discriminating, kid, never has.”

“It’s the little things that make all the difference,” Mori added. “The weird looks, the jokes people make when they don’t think you’re listening, those things. In a lot of ways, it’s worse than people openly saying they don’t like you.”

Azula was growing aggravated. These were her friends - maybe even her family, of sorts - and she was supposed to protect them. That was what friends and family - real friends and family - did, right? Not to mention that it would interfere with her plans to teach Officer Line to firebend if people were harassing him. 

_ And… well, I have to be a good person now. I can’t lose everything again. _

Then Azula remembered something. “What about Daedalus - the AI? I mean, a machine wouldn’t be racist, would it? And aren’t they bound to protect everyone on the station?” 

“All humans on the station,” Mori corrected. “It specifically says humans - Nanotrasen put that in the lawset. Daedalus is really nice about treating us the same, but if a human tells them not to listen to us then they have to obey that.”

“Oh.” So there really was no way for her friends to defend themselves or protest. They were confined by the system.

_ Maybe they are. But you aren’t. You’re a human, you have power that they don’t. _

“Well, Daedalus has to listen to me,” Azula said with determination. “I’m going to tell him not to allow this. It’s… it’s… just not right.” 

“Wait, Azula, be careful,” Mori warned, but Azula ignored her - she had already pulled her new magenta-and-white PDA off her belt, and was opening the interface. She tapped the device a few times - Mori had shown her how it worked earlier, and most of its applications were explained anyway - until she opened the message function, then selected “Daedalus”.

_ As a human, I am ordering you to protect everyone on this station from discrimination, _ she typed quickly. 

Azula had expected a quick answer, but the one she got surprised her. 

_ Why? _

Azula was sorely tempted to simply tell the AI that it didn’t matter because he had to listen to her anyway, but she realized that that probably wasn’t the right approach. 

_ But then how do I explain myself? I’m not used to this. _

Then the princess realized something.  _ Because my friends - and everyone else - don’t deserve to be judged for something that isn’t important,  _ she typed.  _ It’s just not fair. _

This time, there was a noticeable pause of a couple of seconds. 

_ That was a rhetorical question, by the way.  _

“Well, that’s good,” Toes-the-Line hissed questioningly, “but what’s that supposed to mean?”

Before Azula even had a chance to type the lizardman’s comment, another message appeared.

_ It means that you’re right. But just because you’re right doesn’t mean you’re always going to win.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a short chapter... but no. It wasn't. I only hope I'm writing all this stuff correctly.
> 
> Tune in next chapter for lizard firebending! And a bunch of heavier stuff, including more Azula angst and a discussion on... police brutality? (Also known as the Officer Line backstory we still haven't gotten yet.)


	14. Chapter 14

“Damn, kid, when you said waking up early you meant it, huh?”

Azula and Officer Line had met in the training arena first thing in the morning, Azula waking up the somewhat reluctant lizardman almost before she felt the station’s orbit reentering the sunlight. From how tired he had been when she roused him, the firebender could easily tell that he was not connected to his inner fire - or the sun - yet.

_ Well, rectifying that is first on the list. _

“Every word of it,” Azula responded coolly. “As firebenders, we are strongly connected to Agni - the sun spirit, but I’d just say the sun. The more sun, the stronger your bending, and the more awake you feel.”

“So as a firebender, I’m always going to have to wake up with the sunrise?” Officer Line looked irritated at this, but Azula simply smiled knowingly.

“Once you’ve really connected with your inner fire, it becomes hard to imagine not rising and setting with the sun, so to speak. So yes, but you won’t mind.” Azula tapped her foot on the metal floor of the training ring. “But you’ve got to form that connection first.”

Toes-the-Line frowned - he seemed slightly nervous. “This doesn’t involve holding more open flames, does it?”

“No,” Azula said, chuckling a bit at the obvious relief on the lizardman’s face. “The best way to start is by influencing an inert flame - such as these candles Mori got me.” She pulled a few light pink candles out of her bag, and set them upright on the ground. “Now, sit with your legs crossed, half a meter away from them or so.”

Line slowly lowered himself to the ground, Azula doing the same and sitting opposite him with the candles in the middle. She then flicked her hand forward, shooting out four small blue flames, each of which landed on one of the candles and lit it. As the wicks caught, the princess subconsciously considered her performance.

_ My control is good - excellent. I still don’t feel much energy, though… _

“So, see these flames?” Azula gestured to the quartet of flickering candles. “We’re going to do a breathing exercise with them.”

“Why a breathing exercise?”

“Firebending is powered and controlled by one’s breathing,” Azula said patiently. “Obviously we use other physical motions to manipulate the flame, but the breath is most important.” 

Azula shut everything else out and focused on the candles, settling into a steady rhythm of breathing. She could vaguely remember how excited she had been to meditate like this when she was very young, before she had been smothered by her father’s shadow. Only when she had been imprisoned and her only means of firebending had been to breathe with the lanterns on the walls had she remembered the joy of such a simple exercise. The flames began to pulse with her inhale and exhale, gaining a slight blue tinge. 

_ At least I can still control other flames, even if I have difficulty producing my own. That’s something. _

“Wow…” Officer Line was staring at the dancing candles - Azula was pleased to see that he was already trying to breathe steadily along with her. “You’re doing that just with your breathing, huh?”

“Yes, just by breathing.” Azula released her control, and the candles settled back to their normal flickering. “So, what you need to do is just keep breathing steadily like you’re already doing, and try and reach out to the candle flames. Just sit and imagine… imagine your chi wrapping around them, pulsing as you breathe in and out.”

The lizardman nodded, then went silent as he tried to focus. Azula stayed quiet too, thinking about how she could explain firebending to him. It was surprisingly hard for her to put it into words, she realized.

_ I suppose that being a prodigy at something makes it harder to teach it to others. How ironic. _

After what felt like about ten minutes of thought, Azula was distracted by Officer Line hissing softly, “You know, I think I get what you mean about feeling the flame, now.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah, I think so.” The officer went back to breathing rhythmically for a moment, then stopped again. “It’s like… like a warmth that I can feel moving. I can’t control the movement yet, though.”

“The fact that you can feel them already is very good - I wouldn’t expect you to move them on your first day.”

_ Not like my father did. _

Azula pushed the unhelpful thought away and continued. “But you can keep trying this at various times, maybe get some candles in your office or something. You can’t meditate too much, as far as I know.” 

Toes-the-Line nodded. “So I just keep doing this?”

“Yes, keep doing that and see if you can get the flames to synchronize with your breathing. I’m going to run through some of my forms - it’s been a while since I got to practice them.”

Azula stood and turned away from her student, who had closed his eyes and was focusing intently on his breath control. She breathed in deeply, and then began to run through her katas, starting with the basics and working her way into the more advanced sets as she found that her muscle memory had mostly held. Even if she was too tired to use fire, the familiar motions were calming to her.

_ It’s been so long. Maybe I’ll be able to really firebend again soon, too. _

* * *

After a while of practicing, Officer Line spoke up, “So, how do you generate the fire? With your breath?”

“Not exactly. Breath control is essential to projecting one’s inner flame, but your fire comes from your chi, which is in turn powered by your… well, your drive.” The concept was not easy for Azula to explain - it had always come so naturally to her, how her will and her breath drove the flame from her chi, but she couldn’t explain it the way she thought about it.

“Drive, you said?”

“Well, yes… fire is the element of… well, will and drive. There are obviously a lot of ways of interpreting that, but generally your motivation is your fuel.” Azula sighed - this was something she still didn’t fully understand, how Zuko and her uncle had lost everything and then regained their fire. “That’s why my firebending is so weak - I don’t really have any drive at the moment.”

_ I haven’t for a long time. Even when I did, it was all my father’s, that he held over my head. _

“I see. I was wondering why you weren’t shooting fire around, kid.” the lizardman hissed, still sitting calmly with his legs crossed. “You have a job now, don’t you? That has to give you some drive.”

“Well, for one I haven’t started it yet,” Azula joked. “And… well, I guess I should feel motivated, but something is still holding me back. Memories of my past, I guess.”

“Probably.” Toes-the-Line looked like he was considering something. “You know, you can’t really get rid of your past, kid, and you shouldn’t try.”

“What do you mean?” Azula was worried - hadn’t Mori told her that her past wasn’t significant? That she had to leave it behind and act like a new person until she became one?

The officer sighed. “Look, kid, you’re not the only one with regrets. I’ve made some pretty big errors in my past, too, but I don’t deal with them by trying to forget.”

“How do you deal with them then? It’s not like I can just live with what I’ve done, I have to change everything about myself!” 

“Well, it’s not that simple, kid, nothing ever is. I’ve learned that from experience.” Officer Line shifted his crossed legs a bit, and looked her directly in the eyes. “Maybe I should just tell you about myself, that might help you understand. You said we have thirty minutes?”

“Yes.” Azula decided not to question the lizardman - his contradiction of what Mori had told her was confusing, but it would probably make more sense if she let him explain fully. 

_ And Line never talks about his past. So whatever he’s going to say must be important.  _

Azula nodded slowly. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

Officer Line took a deep breath and began. “Well… to start off with, I’ve been a law enforcement officer for a long time - and I only joined the security team here a couple of years ago. I started out as part of a local police department on a smaller planet.”

“So you worked somewhere else,” Azula confirmed. “And you left because...”

“Well… I could say a lot about this, and we talked about it last night some, but in short I left because I was a racist asshole.” Line gritted his teeth before continuing. “It wasn’t a personal thing, necessarily, but law enforcement… well, for some reason law enforcement tends to get all the worst people. People who just want power so they can abuse it, whatever their motivations. You were a military leader, you’d understand that.”

Azula nodded. She was familiar with the type - a lot of the officers and prison guards in the Fire Nation had been like that as well, motivated by spite and hatred. 

_ So, Officer Line used to be one of those people. Why did he change, then? _

The officer in question continued, oblivious to her thoughts. “Well, I walked right into that mess with my head held high, thinking I was going to make a difference. That, kid… that was all naivete. I didn’t realize exactly what I signed up for until I was up to my frills in it.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, one thing that gets drilled into your head in law enforcement - in the military in general, from what I’ve heard, I have friends in a lot of places - is that it’s you against the world,” Toes-the-Line hissed. “You against the world, and the only thing that’s keeping you alive is your gun and your buddies, so to speak. And I could be as idealistic as I want, but when it came down to refusing to follow the system… well, I assume you know how that ends.”

Azula did know - very well. “So you succumbed to the pressure to conform,” she said, non-judgmentally. 

“Yes. I wasn’t strong enough to speak out - police departments hate rats, I can tell you that for sure. And I went along with whatever shit we did, despite the fact that I knew better. I think most everyone did, but no one ever did anything.” 

“So, what made you decide to leave? Or at least come here?”

“Well… the first time I was called to a protest, it was a demonstration near a courthouse. A group of activists were protesting a local court ruling that allowed businesses to keep really bright spotlights on at night. That’s a big problem for mothpeople, as I’m sure Mori has told you.”

Azula chuckled. “Yeah, she told me about that when I asked why her glasses were tinted. Turns out she doesn’t just need them to correct her vision.” 

“So, the protest had continued for about two hours, and apparently someone at city hall wanted them gone, so they called the police department to tell the protesters to disperse.” Officer Line sighed, the air escaping his throat with a hiss. “They didn’t - they had a permit, and I think they knew on some level that they were just being told to leave because no one wanted to listen to them. So we… well, we forced them to leave. There were some arrests made, and a couple of people resisted arrest and got beaten up. I didn’t say anything, as always.”

“And that made you decide to leave?”

“No,” Toes-the-Line said dismally. “A couple of weeks or so later, there was another protest. Apparently word about how the police department worked with city hall to suppress the previous demonstration got out, and that combined with the arrests and the people getting beaten up by officers… people wanted that to not happen again. They wanted reform.” He paused, then continued. “And if there’s one thing that the military doesn’t like, it’s reform. We never wanted anything to threaten our power, because it was all we had. So when there was another protest… well, we retaliated. Much more aggressively. There were serious injuries.”

Azula frowned soberly as she listened to the officer’s story. Certain things he said were resonating with her - things she hadn’t heard anyone else talk about before, because they were evil and no one wanted to think about them. But Line was unafraid of voicing them, of confronting them.

_ We never wanted anything to threaten our power, because it was all we had. _

Officer Line continued speaking. “There were multiple lawsuits brought on after that, but none of them went anywhere. Law enforcement, qualified immunity. I’m sure you’ve heard the story, kid.” 

“I more than knew - I was a part of it.”

“Just like me.” The lizardman looked her in the eyes, gold meeting gold, and she realized that they were mirrors of each other in more than hue. For people who were so different, they were all too similar.

“So, what made you finally decide to stop?”

The lizardman chuckled. “It was rather anticlimactic, really. It was about two weeks after that - I was out on patrol, and I had to stop someone and do an alcohol check. The way they looked at me… I guess at that moment I finally decided it wasn’t worth it to keep doing what I was doing. I went home, tidied things up, and handed in my resignation letter.”

“Well, that’s better than having to be thrown in prison for two years to reconsider your actions,” Azula sighed. “At least you made the choice yourself.”

“And it took me over four years to do so. And even to this day, I’m still working in security, trying to protect people and fight against a system that tries only to protect itself. I can’t help but wonder if I’ve ever really changed, sometimes.” Toes-the-Line stood and stretched - Azula thought she saw the slightest flicker in the candles as he yawned, but she might have been imagining it.

“How do you keep going, then? If you’re thinking about your past so much?”

The lizardman shrugged. “I told you already, kid, sometimes I don’t really know. But I do know that I worked in law enforcement, at least initially, because I wanted to protect people. And at least here I’m fighting actual, external threats, putting my life on the line so others won’t have to - so I’m doing something right, I hope.”

_ More about these “external threats”, hm? I should probably ask about those at some point. _

“You don’t sound very hopeful,” Azula noted.

“I suppose I’ve become cynical, kid. It’s not hard to do as you get older.” Toes-the-Line chuckled a bit, probably remembering something. “That’s probably what stood out to me the most, when I first talked to you. You seemed a good bit more hard-edged than any other kid I’ve ever met.”

_ I suppose I would give that impression, wouldn’t I? _

“So, your drive comes from wanting to protect people,” the princess confirmed. 

“I would say that’s it, yes.”

“Then how come you were talking about not being able to move on from the past? It seems like your memories would just distract you.”

Officer Line sighed. “It’s not that you can’t move on - you have to do that. But you also have to acknowledge your past and be ready to do anything you can to rectify the mistakes you made.”

“So… it’s not about erasing it, but overwriting it.” Azula was vaguely reminded of something she might have heard from an artist somewhere.

“Yes, that might be it. You have a way with words that I don’t.” Toes-the-Line shook himself a bit, then stepped towards the door. “I do have to go, though, and you probably should, too.”

“Good idea,” Azula agreed. “I am quite excited to start my research - I have a feeling the results might be very interesting. And thank you for the advice - I think you helped me understand more about what I should be doing.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help, kid.” Officer Line stepped to the door, causing it to open. Azula made to follow him out of the room, but he stopped and looked back at her. “And, well, what do you call teachers where you’re from? I figure I ought to use the right title, since you’re teaching me.”

“Sifu. It’s an old word for a master.”

“Well, Sifu Azula, I suppose I’ll be ready tomorrow morning for our next lesson.” Toes-the-Line was smirking as he turned and walked out the door, but it was a friendly grin, more joking than anything.

Azula smirked right back. “Don’t forget to keep doing the breathing exercises with candles,” she told him. “It’s important. I want to see you moving those flames soon.”

The lizardman chuckled. “Will do, Sifu Azula. Will do.” He strode off down the hall, and Azula spun and began walking in the other direction, back towards her new lab.

_ And I’ll keep what you said in mind, too, Sifu Line. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. Even more heavy subject matter, amazing! Along with a couple of semi-fluffy moments between Officer Line and Azula, because both of them are bad at showing affection so they just banter and dance around it.
> 
> I sincerely hope I got the whole "police brutality" thing right. This is really heavy real-world stuff that affects a lot of people, and I don't want to do a bad job of representing it. If you have any suggestions, now would be an excellent time to comment.
> 
> I've started thinking of Line as a parallel character to Iroh in a lot of ways, though Line gives off a much more "film noir" vibe to me. I kind of wonder how they'd get along with each other - what would they talk about? Past mistakes? The tea/coffee debate (Line definitely drinks coffee)? The difference between spirits and cosmic horrors? My head is absolutely spinning with possibilities.


	15. Chapter 15

Azula was, and had always been, someone who planned ahead. It was one of the many reasons her father had favored her over Zuko, who was impetuous and didn’t take the time to plan in advance. And being confined in an asylum cell for almost two years had left her burning - literally, in a few instances - to exercise her mental abilities in a way that did not involve mind-shattering introspection. So, when she stepped into her workspace, morning biscuit in hand, she already knew exactly what she was going to do.

Azula took a seat at the slime console, and promptly started off by moving each of the three grey slimes into different pens, intentionally leaving the larger, gas-filled chamber empty. Once she had separated them, she teleported two monkeys into each pen, the slime console automatically converting the monkey cubes she had inserted earlier into live apes. The slimes, which had previously been idle, leapt onto them with a vigor that surprised Azula, clinging on relentlessly as the unfortunate monkeys tried to push them off. The firebender watched with interest - she had never seen anything remotely like it before.

_ What are they doing? It looks like they’re absorbing something from the monkeys… but what? Their chi? _

Azula made a quick note of this newest line of inquiry, then got up and headed out the door, quickly waving to Mori as she passed through her office and into the main hallway of the science department. Erzor had surprised her last night by awkwardly knocking on her bedroom door to tell her that certain parts in the slime processor and monkey recycler were outdated - apparently they had been installed along with the hardware on the rest of the station, and had not been updated since. If she wanted optimal performance, he had said, she would have to replace them with upgraded versions. And Azula was not going to put up with anything being suboptimal.

Walking into the room, she looked around, quickly spotting a large machine - a protolathe, if her memory served - on the opposite wall, its presence dominating the room. Without hesitating, she stepped over to it and opened its operation interface. Erzor had given Azula a detailed explanation of what she would need to do to obtain and install the parts, and the first step was to print the parts at a protolathe like the one in front of her. According to him, what she needed to do was look through the list and find the required parts, which according to the manual had been a manipulator and a matter bin for each machine. Azula scrolled through the list, looking for the most advanced variant of each.

_ Femto manipulator and bluespace matter bin, I think? Well, I’ll print them, and hopefully they’re not the wrong ones. I’m pretty sure these are very expensive little things. _

As the protolathe whirred away, Azula looked for the tool she would need to replace the parts. Erzor had told her what to look for - something he had called a “bluespace R.P.E.D.” - to replace the parts without actually having to open the mechanism and tinker around inside it. After several seconds of searching, she finally spotted it on a shelf, ironically right next to the protolathe. She picked the tool up - it was an unassuming navy-colored box with a handle, with a long cord ending in a pointed nozzle. Taking the box in one hand and the extension in her other hand, she aimed it at the dispenser tray of the protolathe and pulled the trigger, causing the newly printed parts to disappear in a beam of blue light.

_ Well, that’s simple enough. All this technology really is something. _

R.P.E.D. in hand, Azula quickly strode back up to her laboratory. As she entered, she noticed that one of the slimes had consumed its first monkey, the unfortunate ape’s body sprawled in one corner of the pen, while the now much larger and more intimidating slime was busy absorbing the other monkey. The other two were slower eaters, apparently, but they were still swelling noticeably.

_ I must say I didn’t expect them to grow this quickly.  _

Azula turned away from the slimes - as fascinating as they were, she still had a job to do. Pointing the nozzle of the R.P.E.D. at the slime processor, Azula pulled the trigger again. Another beam of blue energy shot from the device towards the machine, a light on the handle flashing after a couple of seconds to signal that the outdated mechanisms had been replaced. She repeated the process on the monkey recycling machine, with the same results, then emptied the old parts into her lab disposal unit. All things considered, the upgrades had taken only ten minutes or so of her time. 

_ So much for having something to do. Time to move on, I guess. _

Having replaced the parts in her machinery, Azula returned to the protolathe room to put the R.P.E.D. back where she had found it. Mori smiled broadly and waved at her as she passed by - apparently she wasn’t busy with her work at the moment, or perhaps she just wanted to chat.

“Hey, Azula! How’s it going!”

“Good so far,” the princess responded quickly, not stopping to talk. It was her first day on the job, and she was intently focused on what she was doing.

“That’s great!” Azula heard Mori call out behind her. She felt a tinge of worry that she was being rude by not talking to her friend, but she really wanted to go back to her lab and familiarize herself more with her equipment, set up her notes, and perhaps just observe the slimes. She replaced the R.P.E.D. back on its shelf, and then headed back to the lab.

“I just replaced the parts, Erzor told me they were outdated last night. Very nice of him.” Azula tried to look Mori in the eye when she talked, but it was hard - when she wanted to work, she wanted to work.

“He would know about that,” Mori responded. Azula didn’t give her a chance to continue the conversation, instead whisking back into her workspace almost instantly.

_ I probably should have been nicer about that…  _

Looking over, she saw that the largest slime had nearly finished absorbing its second monkey - the ape was barely moving as the gelatinous blob had completely engulfed it. Azula vaguely wondered what it would feel like to be eaten by a slime as she put on the pair of latex gloves that she had left on her lab table. 

_ So, I can use this all-in-one grinder to turn these plasma sheets into liquid. The liquid plasma was one of the reagents that they recommended experimenting with - though they did say I should be sparing with it, it’s apparently quite rare. _

Azula turned on the grinder after placing the pieces of slick purple material inside, filling the room with a loud and obnoxious grating noise. “Agni, they couldn’t have made these things any louder?” she groaned. 

After the infuriating processor had stopped - mercifully, it only took about half a minute for it to finish - Azula removed the beaker glass, which was now full of a shiny purple liquid. She placed the anomalous element on the table, then turned back to the first slime. To her surprise and joy, the slime in question was no longer there - it had split into four smaller slimes, one of them a different, shinier shade of grey from the rest. 

_ Hmm! A different one. _

Azula eyed the four new slimes with interest. She was already thinking about which ones she would keep and which ones she would have to consign to the vacuum chamber. Killing off slimes was necessary - she couldn’t keep every slime she bred, and obtaining and experimenting with their extracts was the whole point of her research - but she could keep one of the grey ones to breed again, and the metallic one would definitely be bred as well. 

“Xxuummblrbm,” one of the slimes blorbled, startling Azula. 

_ Wait, I didn’t know they could make sounds… I’ll have to take note of that.  _

“Hello to you too, slimes,” Azula responded idly, already walking over to her console to move the new slimes around. 

To her surprise, every single slime in the room responded, the assorted hums and blorbles echoing off the walls. It was oddly reassuring.

“So, you can understand what I say, too. Interesting.” Azula knew that most people didn’t talk to themselves, but she didn’t particularly care. It helped her keep her mind in order.

As Azula sat down in front of the slime console and opened the interface, she mouthed a silent apology to the slimes she was about to freeze to death. It seemed like the respectful thing to do.

* * *

By an hour or two into the afternoon, things in Azula’s lab had progressed significantly.

The other two slimes had divided, resulting in a few more grey slimes, one orange slime, and two purple slimes. With more and more procreating slimes to keep separate, Azula was running out of small pens, but the princess had planned ahead and developed a system for cataloguing the different variants. As soon as she got a duplicate of one color - there were only four colors at the moment, grey, purple, orange, and the odd steel-colored ones - she would teleport it into the large chamber filled with BZ, causing it to fall asleep. That way she would always have at least one of each color alive. So far, this was working very well - she had one of each of the four colors she had discovered in the holding pen, and as soon as she found a new color, she could immediately breed it and put one of the offspring in the pen to catalog that mutation. It was a perfect plan.

“So,” Azula said, to no one in particular, “I guess the breeding part is easy. The question is… what do I do with the extracts?”

The extracts in question were rapidly piling up - the upgraded slime processor was incredibly efficient indeed, giving four extracts per baby slime, and Azula had been breeding the slimes with enough regularity that she already had a fair number of them. Many of them were grey extracts, and Azula knew what to do with these - inject them with blood from the dead monkeys, and they would produce more monkey cubes, conveniently providing her with the means to continue feeding the slimes - but the effects of the orange, purple, and metal extracts were completely unknown.

_ So, this is the real part of my job - figuring out what these extracts do. _

Unfortunately, Azula quickly realized, there was no means of doing so that did not involve blind trial and error. So, she had made a chart with the different types of extracts and several different liquids, and she was planning to plot the results of each blind test on it. 

“Right,” Azula said, to no one in particular. “So, I guess what I need to do now is just inject these liquids and see what they do.”

Azula promptly picked up an orange extract and a dropper containing some plasma, then carefully injected the plasma into the blob of gel. It immediately started bubbling and growing warm in her hand. 

_ A reaction... _

Azula put it down carefully on her lab table - and it burst into a swirl of flame.

“Ah!”

Acting on reflex alone, Azula moved her hands in a sweeping motion, pulling the fire towards her and extinguishing it. She glanced around quickly, worried that other things in the room could have been caught alight, but the blaze had only been around for an instant - not enough to cause any damage. 

_ That was too close. _

“Azula! Are you all right?” The princess turned, noticing that Mori had burst through the door behind her - an alarm was now blaring intermittently, and red lights on the walls were flashing.

“I’m fine,” the firebender responded, recomposing herself. “Nothing was burned.”

The door opened again, and Azula recognized the familiar dark brown ponytail of Director Kena. “What happened? Is there a fire?”

“No, I took care of it. Thank Agni for firebending and fast reaction times.” 

“I suggest you use the bomb test chamber in the toxins lab for these, in future,” Kena said calmly, flipping a switch on the wall. The fire alarms ceased their wailing immediately. “I must say I didn’t expect those to react so… explosively.”

“I certainly didn’t either. I think I’m going to hold off on working with the extracts for the rest of the day, and just breed more slimes,” Azula responded. “That was rather unsettling.”

“Well, if you have everything under control, I’ll leave you to your work.” Kena left the way she had entered. Azula was quite glad to see her go - she did not like the woman. 

“Fun first day, huh?” Mori looked expectantly at Azula, and the princess was reminded of how she had ignored her earlier that morning. 

“I would say so,” Azula quipped. “And I’m sorry I ignored you earlier - I tend to get really focused on anything I’m working on.” The quick apology surprised her - she hadn’t intended it, but it slid out surprisingly easily.

“It’s fine! I get like that at times, too.” Mori smiled, her wings fluttering a bit. “I’m gonna go back to work now, too. Bye!” With that, she turned and bounced away, the door closing behind her.

_ That was… surprisingly painless. _

Azula settled back into her chair to watch her slimes, and thought about the conversations she’d had with Mori and Officer Line. She wasn’t sure exactly how to think of them - she’d only known them for a couple of days, it seemed strange to call them friends or family - but those words seemed to fit well in her mind. 

“I suppose I am learning a lot here,” Azula said to herself. “About a lot of different things.”

She just hoped she could understand the lessons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter one chapter consisting almost entirely of SS13 xenobiology explanations - I tried to keep it from being dull by adding in some exothermic reaction action and an apology. Hopefully this exposition is acceptable.
> 
> Next chapter will feature a more significant time skip than any before, as well as the return of the Gaang and a new friend!
> 
> Thank you all for the support - I've been rather bad about responding to comments and thanking my readers before, owing to a combination of forgetfulness and my complete ignorance of the fact that this site has an inbox. Now that I know what I'm doing, I will be responding to as many comments as possible. Your support helps me stay motivated to write this.


	16. Chapter 16

Azula stepped into her workspace for the fourth morning in a row, immediately sitting down with a relaxed sigh in her swivel chair. She had just finished exercising and working through her firebending katas while Officer Line practiced moving candle flames around, and her muscles were sore. 

_ At least I’m starting to get back into shape.  _

“Hello, slimes,” she said, nodding as her charges responded to her greeting with an assortment of gelatinous noises. There was something reassuring about the fact that the slimes knew her well enough to respond to her when she greeted them - they didn’t do that for anyone else, Azula had found. Apparently she had earned their loyalty, whether by virtue of her constant presence or merely the fact that she was the one who fed them monkeys, she was not sure.

_ Well, better that they like me than not. Even if I am throwing the majority of them into a freezer. _

Of course, xenobiology was about a great deal more than befriending one’s test subjects. As Azula had realized, breeding the slimes was the easy part - in the four days that she had been working, she had discovered twenty-two different variations, including the grey slimes she’d started with, and had one of each asleep in the holding chamber. Initially, the princess had simply experimented with breeding the slimes randomly, but she had soon noticed that there was a distinct pattern to the mutations, and she had used it to breed the slimes more selectively. Now, she had a chart detailing all the mutations she had discovered - the different colors created a sort of pinwheel shape radiating out from the gray slimes that she had started with. It was satisfyingly simple.

The tough part was experimenting with the extracts. The toxins lab below Kena’s office gave her a safe space to do so - the test chamber’s walls and floor were heavily reinforced - but time was still a major limiting factor. Azula had to treat every single extract with the utmost care, and that meant that she only had time to work with a few of them each day. Even worse, unlike the slimes’ mutation patterns, the extracts’ effects were wildly variable, so it was difficult to predict the outcome of her experiments. What with taking notes and dealing with whatever strange products the extracts produced, progress had been slow.

_ At least people aren’t asking me for anything yet. I’ve been able to work without interruption. _

Mostly without interruption, at least.

“Well, Ayane, how are you this morning?” Azula swiveled her chair a little bit, looking down at the large multicolored slime that had just shoved itself - hard - into her left ankle.

“Mxmmqubbbmmm,” it blorbled in response, wobbling a bit. Despite its complete lack of expressive features, Azula could tell that the slime wanted attention.

“I have no idea what you’re saying, you know, but you seem fine to me. Ridiculous thing.” Ayane was very special - the rainbow slimes were an anomaly, one that her slime breeding chart had not predicted, and Azula had only discovered them through an idle experiment involving slime mutation accelerators. She had chosen not to experiment with their extracts yet, as she had a strong suspicion that they would prove to be extremely unstable and dangerous, but that left her with an unresolved interest in the strange, unique multicolored slimes.

So, when an experiment with pink slime extracts the previous day had produced a chemical that rendered slimes docile and friendly, the princess had chosen to keep one of the rainbow ones as a pet. It was a status symbol of sorts, displaying her skill at her job - and, she had to admit, with its shimmery polychromatic surface, the thing was quite pretty. 

To be fair, Ayane could also be incredibly annoying. But Azula could put up with that. There was something endearing about the slime’s obsession with her.

“Well, I think today I should experiment with the green and black extracts,” Azula said to no one in particular. “Hopefully those will just be ones that produce other reagents, rather than reactions.” Reagents were easier to deal with - the ChemMaster 3000 in her lab was good at separating chemicals, and its built-in analyzer could give her ideas of what they did even if they were unknown.

She took a moment to move the slimes she had been breeding around, and then stood and took several green and black extracts from the refrigerator, putting them in a bio bag to hold them so she could transport them more easily. As she reached for a vial of plasma, Ayane bumped into her feet affectionately.

“You can’t come outside the lab, Ayane, I doubt Kena would approve.” Azula knew for a fact that the research director would not want a slime, tame or otherwise, wandering around Science. She liked to keep everything in the department as orderly as possible - a trait that reminded the princess of herself.

_ I’ve always preferred to have control over others - it helps me feel secure.  _

The princess sighed. For the majority of her life, she had used fear to exert the control over others that she desired. As crown princess of the Fire Nation, fear and intimidation were her greatest tools, and she had considered them more powerful than anything else. That had been foolish. 

_ In the end, it seems, trust was the reliable way. I don’t understand it, but it’s the truth. _

Azula stopped and put the plasma vial back on the table, sitting down in her chair again. She had just realized something important.

_ If I have to trust my friends… and they have to trust me… then I need to make sure they know that I have enemies. Enemies who might well be after me. _

Because Azula had realized that the likelihood that she would be followed was uncomfortably high. She was well aware that there would be an intense demand for her recapture, and she also knew that the Avatar and her brother would undoubtedly succumb to the political pressure and attempt to chase her. And she was not going to underestimate the Avatar’s ability to follow her - the airbender and his friends had surprised her before. 

_ I know they’re going to try to follow me, and I have to assume that they will succeed. And they’ll almost certainly do so as quickly as possible.  _

Azula needed to be prepared to fight their attempts to capture her, and she couldn’t do so on her own. If she wanted to keep everything she had gained, she would need help.

“So, Ayane, I need to talk to my friends about what happens if - well, when, really - the Avatar and his friends show up here,” Azula said, rubbing the slime’s surface. She loved doing this - the gelcoat felt cool and relaxing to touch, and the slimes seemed to gravitate toward the warmth of her hands, too. “I know I can’t fight them on my own. But I don’t know who here would have the power to stop that, or if they would trust me more than them. So yes, I have quite the problem.”

Ayane responded by shoving itself into the princess’ feet again. Azula sighed, leaning down and picking the insistent slime up into her lap. It was quite heavy - the thing was fully grown, and very dense - but she managed it. 

“Xmmmmqmbmq,” Ayane blorbled. It sounded content enough to Azula.

“Well, fine. You can stay here. But don’t start wobbling around or I’ll have to put you back on the ground.”

Azula leaned back in her chair. It was rather odd how much she liked Ayane, considering she’d only had it for a day or so, but the slime was affectionate company, and it understood every word she said even if it couldn’t talk back. The fact that it was staying almost completely still in her lap, with barely a vibration, was proof enough of that.

_ I can appreciate having something that listens to me when I talk. _

After a few minutes of relaxation, Azula was startled by the door of her office opening as Mori bounced in. Rainbow, noticing the new arrival, wobbled and flowed off Azula’s lap onto the floor.

“Aww, look at you!” Mori bent down to pet the eager gelatinous blob. “You’re such a friendly slime, aren’t you.”

“You came in here just to see Ayane, hmm?” Azula said teasingly, turning her chair to look at her friend. She, Mori, and Officer Line had stayed in touch - they still ate together, and they had gone to the bar a few more times, Azula being careful not to get drunk again. But they hadn’t had any more serious discussions, other than idle talk about things that happened around the station and the occasional bit of useful advice. 

_ I need to tell them. I need support. _

It pained her to admit it, but the princess knew that she couldn’t stand alone against the Avatar and his friends. If she wanted to keep what she had here, she would need others to help her. Others who she could trust, even if that made no sense to her.

“Mori, there’s something you need to know.”

“Yeah, Azula?” The mothperson was busy rubbing Ayane, who was enjoying it immensely. 

“Well…” Azula wasn’t sure if there was a tactful way to tell Mori that she was likely being pursued by some of the most dangerous people alive, so she decided not to try. “I’ve been thinking, and I’ve realized that I will probably end up being chased by the people who were trying to… punish me.”

“Like, they could get here?” Mori looked concerned - rightfully so. Azula could only imagine the damage that the Avatar and his friends could do, if given the opportunity. And the fact that they probably didn’t understand anything about how the station worked would not help.

“I don’t know, exactly, but I’m not going to underestimate them,” Azula said, rather abashedly. “I was… a pretty important political prisoner. There are a lot of people who would want me back and… ah, neutralized.”

Mori was silent for a moment, and Azula frantically wondered if she had miscalculated, if she had overestimated the strength of their friendship, but then the mothperson spoke. “Well… that can’t be allowed to happen. It just can’t.”

“Thank you,” Azula said, exhaling. “I was… worried.”

“Don’t be, Azula.” Mori was smiling, but there was a conviction in her eyes that was almost intimidating. “I consider you a pretty good friend, and Officer Line does too. And neither of us are going to let you be imprisoned - you don’t deserve that.”

“Friends? After a week?”

“Yep! Friends are important.” Mori bounced on her heels a bit. “But if you’re going to be chased, we need to talk over lunch about how we’re going to deal with that. And… well, we’ll need to involve more people.”

“Definitely. Whatever it takes,” Azula said. She had no intention of ever having anything to do with her past again.

* * *

As Appa landed in the main courtyard of the Earth Palace, King Kuei immediately rushed out to meet the returning Gaang. Iroh was trailing behind him much more serenely, but still with a worried look on his face.

“Oma and Shu, you’re finally back,” Kuei exclaimed. “We were getting very concerned.”

“Sorry we took so long.” Aang leapt down from the sky bison’s back, Momo gliding down just behind him and landing on his head. “I… well, there was an incident in a town we stopped in that I thought was something to do with an angry spirit…”

“It was an escaped platypus-bear from a circus,” Sokka interjected dryly. “We wasted a day on that. And we wasted another day because Appa ate some weeds or something that made him too tired to fly. So, pretty much normal for us.”

“It is good that you are back,” Iroh’s expression was incredibly serious. “Azula’s escape has caused a great deal of unrest.”

“You did manage to find her, right?” Kuei looked nervous and worn out. “The clamor for-”

“Yeah, we did,” Aang interrupted. “I can get to her now - maybe. Probably. But I know where she is now.”

“That’s incredible news! Are you planning to go after her immediately? If you want assistance-”

Aang interrupted the Earth King again. “No. Not immediately.” He set his jaw before continuing. “We need to decide what we’re going to do once we get to her.”

“I see,” King Kuei said, looking dejected. 

Iroh cleared his throat. “I assume your stance on stripping Azula of her bending remains the same?” 

“Yes,” Aang responded. “I’m not going to do it. It’s… well, it’s cruel, and I don’t think it’s the right solution.”

“We should get inside, Aang,” Katara said, before anyone could object and start an argument. “If we’re going to have a long discussion about this, then we ought to sit down.”

“I agree,” Iroh said sagely. “I believe discussing this issue over tea will prove valuable. And we may wish to wait for the arrival of Chieftains Arnook and Hakoda - they have both decided to come to Ba Sing Se on short notice. It is very good that we have the new airships for this purpose.”

“Wait, seriously?” Sokka looked happy - it was his father - but also incredulous.

“As I mentioned, Azula’s escape is an international affair,” Iroh muttered gravely. “As long as she is at large, she is dangerous.”

There was a long silence as the Gaang unloaded their things from Appa’s back and, with the assistance of some servants, began to make their way inside. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation and worry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... things are starting to move along, finally. When I put "Slow Build" in the tags, I did kind of mean it. 
> 
> Also, for those of you who are wondering, Azula's current attitude of repressing her past is NOT a healthy coping strategy, and is still rooted in her perfectionism and unwillingness to truly accept that she can (and will) make mistakes. This is something that she will have to deal with later on.
> 
> Speaking of perfectionism, I've found that writing this is really helping me get over my own perfectionist tendencies - I'm having to accept that these chapters probably aren't perfect, and that has been really good for my sanity. As an art major... well, perfectionism and self-esteem issues are a big deal for me. So... thanks for coming to my "issues that I can relate with a fictional character" TED talk, I guess?
> 
> Also, the pet rainbow slime's name - Ayane - is a Japanese name that can mean "color" or "design".


	17. Chapter 17

“So, when exactly are Dad and Chief Arnook going to be here?” Sokka looked up from his massive plate of roast duck - he was still attempting to make up for the general lack of meat over their week-long trip, and a dinner in the Earth King’s palace was an excellent opportunity to do so.

“They will arrive tomorrow morning,” Iroh said, pouring himself another cup of hot tea. “But it would be prudent to put forth any ideas we have now.”

“And can we please not talk about punishing her?” Aang added. “We need to worry about finding Azula and bringing her back safely first.” 

There were various nods of assent from around the table - Aang and Iroh were right, of course, it would be futile to discuss what they were going to do with the runaway princess before they had even found her. But there was also the fact that no one wanted to try and discuss what they were going to do with Azula in general - whenever the subject was brought up, Aang always became very upset, and it always left everyone else feeling uneasy as well. 

Zuko left his bowl of spicy fire noodles to join the conversation. “You did say that there were people where she is, right?” 

“Yeah, there were - some of them didn’t exactly seem like people, but I could sense that they had the same type of connections that we do, so they must be people.” Aang scratched his head, looking deep in thought, and everyone looked at each other. The implications of that comment were… concerning.

Zuko broke the silence, speaking again. “Well… maybe if we’re lucky, they’ll have figured out that Azula is insane and have captured her for us, so all we’ll have to do is ask them to give her back.”

“That would be nice, but I can’t find out anything about her for sure,” Aang said. “She’s still alive, and she seems to be staying in the same place, but other than that I really don’t know much about what she’s doing or where she is. I’m only sensing my connection to her, not to the place she’s in or the other people, and it’s already hard enough to keep that connection without trying to expand it to other things.”

Sokka spoke up, putting his food down. “I can’t help but be rather concerned about the fact that we’re just jumping into a completely different universe with no idea who or what we’ll encounter.”

Zuko huffed. “I have to agree, Sokka. Aang, you said you didn’t know much - what do you know?”

The Avatar pondered for a moment, then spoke again. “Well, all I really saw was from when I went into the Avatar state in the swamp, and it was all weird and hazy, but I can try to describe it.”

“Then tell us, Aang. We’re going to have plenty to worry about with Azula alone, we need all the information we can get.” Sokka was using his most leaderly voice now.

The aforementioned airbender took a deep breath. “Well, the place she’s in… it’s almost all made out of metal. It’s like a huge ship.”

“A ship? Like the Fire Nation navy ships? Or like an airship?” Sokka queried.

Aang shrugged. “It wasn’t anything like those - it’s just the closest thing I could think of to what I saw. And whatever the ship was, it wasn’t on water, or even flying. It was just… hanging there, in this nothingness.”

“Well, that’s not concerning at all,” Mai said dryly. “We’re going to be trying to find Azula on a giant hunk of metal suspended in god-knows-what, filled with people we know absolutely nothing about.”

“And stuff we know absolutely nothing about, too,” Aang chipped in. “I saw tons of really weird stuff - I don’t know how to describe it, it was crazy. Like, technology I can’t even describe.”

“Technological things?” Sokka immediately perked up, his roast duck now completely ignored - he loved anything to do with inventions and engineering. “Well, consider me interested.”

“Interested and worried,” Zuko said. “We have no experience with this place - and if the technology they have is so advanced that Aang can’t even understand it, that could cause major issues for us. Not to mention that the people who live there may not appreciate our intrusion.”

“Or Azula might have manipulated them into working with her,” Mai added darkly. “She’s always been good at that.”

Aang shrugged. “I mean, if Azula’s threatening people then we can just protect them - we’re a lot stronger than she is.” 

“What if they’re working with her because they think she’s their friend?” Ty Lee’s statement was unexpected, and there were more than a couple of very surprised looks - the idea of Azula actually managing to get people to like her without coercing them was… unexpected.

“I would not be concerned about that.” Iroh put down his teacup and sighed. “I do not believe that Azula will be able to make true friendships. Intimidation is the only way of interacting with others that she knows.”

* * *

“Well, I assume there’s a reason you invited Mori to my lesson that doesn’t involve having a friendly chat or a firebending demonstration,” Officer Line hissed dryly. “I doubt my little candle-flickering trick is impressive enough to show off, and I’m still having trouble actually producing a flame.” He held out his palm, producing a small puff of smoke and a few sparks. 

“You’re doing well for someone who’s only been working on it for four days, Line.” Azula was actually impressed with the lizardman’s progress - even if he hadn’t managed to produce proper flames yet, he understood the philosophy behind firebending quite well.

_ Maybe even better than I do, considering that I’m still having trouble generating a sustained flame. _

“But no, I didn’t want you to give a demonstration - you can if you like, but that’s not why Mori’s here,” Azula continued, taking a deep breath. “I had something I wanted to discuss with you two.” 

_ You have their support. You just need more. _

“Well… I already told Mori this, but I’m very concerned that I will be followed by the Avatar and his friends. And, well… I need some way of ensuring they can’t just drag me back - there’s no way I can handle them, not with my firebending as messed up as it is - and all of them are also really dangerous-”

“Calm down, kid.” Officer Line looked at her steadily, and Azula realized that she had been starting to panic. “So, you think that the same people who put you in prison initially are still after you?”

“Yes,” Azula replied, somewhat more calmly. “If the Avatar managed to shove me across dimensions, I wouldn’t put it past him to figure out how to repeat the process and follow me. And he and his friends definitely have plenty of motivation to try and recapture me, too - and they have a lot of authority.”

Mori nodded, looking rather nervous. “And, well, the worry is that they’ll show up and as soon as they ask where Azula is, the command staff will just hand her over. And we were wondering if there was a way to defend against that, and you know a lot about space law so… help?”

Officer Line hummed, then spoke quickly. “That might not be as much of an issue as you think. The thing is, Nanotrasen is technically its own sovereign nation. So as far as the staff being forced to hand you over… that would be equivalent to forced extradition, which is… well, let’s just say that no one in command will take kindly to even the suggestion.” Azula was impressed with the ease with which the lizardman spoke - he sounded like he was genuinely invested in the subject.

“Oh, right! I keep forgetting about that,” Mori sounded relieved, but Azula noticed that there was something else in her voice - irritation, perhaps? “The whole ‘corporate nationality’ thing.”

“Wait, Nanotrasen is a nation? I thought it was a corporation.” Azula was confused - and intrigued. The idea that a business organization could form its own sovereign dominion was utterly foreign to her.

“They became rich enough that they can form their own governments and enforce their own laws,” a voice said from behind her. “Most of the nations these days started out as corporations. Money is power, after all.” 

Azula spun wildly to see Director Kena just walking through the door to the training room, as casually as if she had just happened to stumble in. The firebender was confused - she was certain that she had been listening out for anyone who might overhear their conversation.

_ I’m absolutely certain those sliding doors make a sound when they open… but how else could she have gotten in? _

“Uhm… hello, Director Kena!” Mori was trying - and utterly failing - to look innocent. Azula had to restrain the urge to roll her eyes.

_ Seriously?  _

“Having a firebending lesson, I see.” Azula could tell that the research director suspected something - either she had overheard their discussion, or Mori’s terrible acting had attracted her attention. The princess quickly considered how to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

_ If we don’t say anything, she’ll be even more suspicious.  _

Azula decided that she had to take the risk - people like Kena didn’t take well to being lied to. “We were discussing the fact that I might be followed by… well, enemies of mine. I committed some past actions that made enemies of a lot of people.” 

“So, you were a criminal where you came from, and you’re concerned about being pursued.” The research director’s tone was blunt - non-judgmental, as far as Azula could tell. 

_ She’s not immediately upset - that’s a good sign. _

“Yes,” Azula planned to remain as nonspecific about her past as possible - if Kena wanted more information, she could ask for it. “And by being here, I was hoping to… ahh, start anew.”

“I can respect that. Did you try to come here intentionally?” 

Azula wasn’t sure why Kena was asking that question rather than anything more related to what she had done, but at least it was easy to answer. “No, my arrival here was an accident. One that I intend to take advantage of, if possible.”

Kena regarded her with an appraising gaze. “Well, Nanotrasen has never been overly concerned about the past of their employees - at least as long as they are loyal to the corporation and do their jobs, and I don’t think I can contest that you are both of those things.” 

_ Agni, she’s more like a noble than ever. Who is this woman? _

“And, as a sovereign entity, Nanotrasen protects its employees - citizens would perhaps be a better word. So, don’t worry - I can pull some strings, so to speak, and ensure that you are protected.”

Azula nodded respectfully, and started to speak, but she was interrupted by Mori. “Thank you, Kena! We were really worried!”

“You’re welcome,” Kena responded. “I consider the welfare of my department very important - and you are contributing a great deal, Azula.” 

_ You don’t know - none of you know, really. But I’m trying my best. _

“I appreciate your help, Director Kena,” the princess said respectfully. “I won’t let you down.”

Kena nodded. “I should be going, I do have a department to run. And I will need to inform all the command staff that you may be under threat.” Kena stepped towards the exit door of the training room, then turned. “And, Azula, I’ll meet with you later today or tomorrow to discuss exactly who will be following you further. Does discussing this over dinner sound feasible?” 

“That will work for me,” Azula replied. “Mori and Officer Line will be there as well, though - is that an issue?”

“Not unless it’s problematic for you,” Kena said. “It would actually be nice to have someone from Security there - I expect they’ll want to be informed of any threats to our station.”

“It’s not problematic, no.” Azula looked at Mori and Line, but if they had an issue with the research director joining them for dinner, they didn’t show it. “I’ll see you then.”

“You too. Now, I have some people to talk to.” With that, Kena quickly strode out of the training room, leaving the three of them to look at each other in surprise.

“Well, that was fortunate,” Officer Line hissed. “We were going to need to put this through the chain of command anyway, but having the research director do it will be… helpful.”

Mori fluttered happily. “I told you Kena was nice, Azula!” 

The princess wasn’t so sure. 

_ She’s nice in the way I was nice to Ty Lee and Mai, and Zuko. And that's what I wanted to leave behind. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter chapter here - this came together very fast, as it's primarily meant to move the plot along and set up some much more in-depth interactions in the very near future. 
> 
> The plot point of Nanotrasen being a corporate state is actually a part of Space Station 13 lore (or as much a part of its lore as anything can be), and not just something I made up on the spur of the moment. It fits in here really well, because it means that Azula actually has a significant advantage over the Gaang now - as an employee/citizen of Nanotrasen, she is under their protection. So, for those of you who were concerned that Azula was going to get dragged back to face "justice" at the hands of the Avatarverse's misguided and/or vengeful world leaders... fear not! The questionably motivated corporate nation-state of Nanotrasen is here to save the day!
> 
> (Is Nanotrasen the United States? Maybe, I don't speak for the people who code SS13, but they have more than enough guns, messianic savior-complexes, and deep-rooted racism issues to play the part. Do I enjoy making everything I write incredibly confusing and morally grey? Absolutely.)
> 
> Additionally, there's a large change coming up in how I'm going to be writing the sections involving the Gaang. Previously, they were written from the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator, but starting in the next chapter or two I'm going to start splitting them into individual character POVs. It's perhaps an awkward transition to make this far into the fic, but as things get more action-based on their end, it's one that I need to make.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! Quarantine is lonely.


	18. Chapter 18

“So, Azula, who exactly are these people who are following you? And is there a way we can convince them to stop?” Mori was mumbling a bit, some crumbs falling out of her mouth - they had decided to eat dinner a little early, but the mothperson was still ravenously hungry.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think offering them donuts is going to help,” Azula replied wryly, her plate of beef noodles left ignored on the small table. Thinking about the Avatar and his friends made her nervous, and she wasn’t hungry. 

_ Agni, why can’t they just leave me alone? _

_ Because you’re dangerous. You don’t deserve to live. _

Azula shivered a bit, ignoring the familiar whispers. “They’re after me in particular - probably because I’m a political prisoner, and also because… well, I have a bit of a history with them.”

“Political prisoner?” Kena looked at her with a penetrating gaze. “I believe there’s some subtext I’m missing here, Azula.” 

Azula sighed - she had indeed forgotten to mention anything of her past to Kena. “I was the crown princess of the Fire Nation, and unfortunately I was far more loyal to my maniac of a father than I should have been. So, when the war ended, I was imprisoned in an asylum.” 

Surprisingly, the director simply nodded sadly. “Life is cruel. And it does not discriminate, unfortunately.” 

_ It is. Which sounds hypocritical coming from someone like me, but it is. _

Officer Line cleared his throat. “Well, if you’re done reminiscing about how messed up everything in this world is - and believe me, I’m not going to disagree with you - we need to know more about this ‘Avatar’ and his group.”

“Well, for one, they’re all around my age.” Azula chuckled at the shocked expressions of her fellows - even Kena seemed to have broken her mask. “What, you did say life is cruel. And a hundred-year war of imperialism is about as brutal as it gets.”

Officer Line coughed awkwardly. “All right, kid, we get the point. But… how on earth are a bunch of kids so determined to put you in jail?” 

Azula sighed. “Like I said, we have a history - I spent a long time chasing them and trying to kill them when I was still loyal to my father. And I’ve never been anything other than my father’s daughter - so, well, no one knows that I’m trying to change.”

“They didn’t give you a chance, though,” Mori interjected. “That’s not fair.”

Azula looked at the geneticist - her concern touched something in her, it really did, but it meant nothing in the face of reality. “I was very vehemently supportive of my father before I was imprisoned - I thought he was the only one who really cared about me. It took being confined to make me realize how wrong I was... and to this day, I still don’t know what I’m doing. So, really, it’s understandable that the rest of the world left me behind.”

“But Azula - you’re not evil! You-” 

Azula interrupted Mori’s irate exclamations. “But they don’t know that. To some extent, even I don’t know that. I’m trying my best not to act like I used to, but whether it’s working… I don’t know. And they certainly won’t.” Azula sighed, shaking her head. “And even if they do… well, I’m still a political prisoner. They have to bring me back regardless.”

Mori squeaked a bit, still upset. “That’s just… why?”

Officer Line scowled and cleared his throat. “It’s messed up, yes,” he said. “Tell us something we don’t already know. What matters right now is not letting that happen.” He turned to Azula. “So, again, what exactly are these people capable of?”

Azula started speaking, still shivering a bit. “Well, the Avatar is the biggest threat - they are a perpetually reincarnating being capable of bending all four elements, and also channeling immense spiritual energy. So, in short, he’s a very powerful fourteen-year-old.” The firebender paused a bit. “He’s also the one I killed, though he was resurrected through… some kind of spiritual waterbending magic. I’m not clear on the specific details.”

Line shrugged. “Well, if he’s as powerful as you say he is, kid, I don’t blame you for trying to take him out. There’s such a thing as priorities.”

Azula nodded - she was glad someone understood. Even at the time, she had had a moment’s reservations about striking the young airbender in the back, she really had, but if she had allowed him to go into the Avatar state… well, she had heard about the Siege of the North. About the waters filled with dead soldiers and the twisted wreckage of the Fire Nation’s finest fleet. 

_ Or did you just want him dead so Father would love you more? Monster. _

“So this fourteen-year-old is a priority target.” Officer Line hissed, inadvertently bringing Azula back from her memories. “That’s not exactly legal, but considering the fact that none of us want to get unceremoniously blasted into deep space, I don’t think anyone’s going to complain.”

Azula breathed deeply, trying her best to remain centered. “As we’ve said, life isn’t fair.”

_ Talking about cruelty like you aren’t a prime example of it. Hypocrite.  _

Azula stubbornly went on. “And the Avatar’s friends aren’t harmless either - they are all highly skilled combatants as well, and some of them are master benders in their own right. So they will be a threat.”

Line groaned. “Great, more aggressive, highly dangerous teenagers. You ever considered that dealing with you is enough, kid?”

Azula chucked, the lighthearted quip surprisingly tamping down her nerves a bit. “Welcome to my life.”

“I’ll make sure to wipe my feet on the doormat,” the officer jested in response, before returning to his serious demeanor. “The question is, how do we deal with a whole group of dangerous children?”

Kena cleared her throat to say something, but she was cut off by a distant explosion, their plates of food rattling slightly. Azula tensed instinctively, her breath tightening.

_ No, no, no… not now... _

She was not the only one to react - Officer Line immediately jumped out of his seat, his hand flying to the harmbaton at his belt, and rushed out the door. “Got to go! Immediate response and all that.” 

Azula, Mori, and Director Kena all looked at each other.

“If that’s them,” Azula gritted out, “then I’m going to be committing another murder.”

* * *

Aang, as it turned out, was not the cause of any explosions on Space Station 13, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t currently close to detonating.

“I understand your argument, Avatar Aang, but Azula is dangerous and must be contained,” Chief Arnook said coolly. “Removing her bending is the on-”

“I told you already, I’m not taking her firebending!” Aang had been upset for all fifteen minutes of the discussion thus far - the rest of the Gaang had alternated between trying to interrupt him when he started losing control or simply waiting for him to calm down. “She deserves a chance to heal! And she’s never going to heal if she loses her bending - it’s a part of her.”

“I understand that you feel sorry for her, Avatar Aang, but she is still a major threat to the safety of the world,” Kuei said wearily, one hand reaching down to scratch Bosco under his chin. “And we cannot-” 

“We can,” Aang retorted insistently. “It’s not like we gave her a chance before - we locked her in prison!”

Iroh spoke up from his seat next to Mai and Zuko. “She was sent to an asylum, Aang. But she showed no sign of recovering, and therefore she was moved to a more secure location.” The old dragon sighed. “I know that you want her to be redeemed, but she has not proven herself willing to make that choice.”

“But she’s never gotten that choice.” There was some surprise around the table - Toph had kept silent for most of the meeting. One of the Earth Kingdom generals stood and started to interrupt her, but the floor rumbled ominously underneath him and he sat back down, wincing a bit.

Toph glared at the Earth Kingdom delegation - quite effectively, for a blind person. “I didn’t ask to be interrupted! And as I was saying, Azula is dangerous, for sure, but she’s also never had an opportunity not to be.”

“What do you mean by that?” Kuei asked.

“What I mean,” the metalbender continued, “is that Princess Crazy’s spent her entire life being told what she should be by her father. And do you know how long it took me to fix all the problems my parents left me with? I’m still dealing with them! So I agree with Aang - she should get the opportunity to try and live a life that isn’t in a prison for insane people or dictated by that asshat Ozai.”

The table was completely silent - no one had been expecting Toph to defend Azula so passionately, and many of the delegates were also scandalized at her language. Aang grinned at seeing his earthbending sifu defending him, and the rest of the Gaang also looked somewhat relieved, but the adults at the table were not convinced.

“Why should she get that chance?” General How said, standing. “She is a threat, sixteen-year-old girl or not. And she must be prevented from being a threat. Surely you can understand, Avatar Aang.”

Aang sighed - he looked far older than fourteen - and glared at How. “I understand, I really do. But she doesn’t deserve-”   
“It isn’t about what she deserves, Avatar Aang.” Chief Arnook rose from his seat, looking across the table. “This is about the danger she poses to everyone else. And she has proven herself a threat that must be contained.”

There was a heavy pause as Aang stood in answer, glaring across the table. Every single eye in the room was on him. 

“I’m done here,” the Avatar said finally. “I’m not going to use my power to… to do this. There has to be another way.”

“Aang, you can’t-” Chief Hakoda started, but he was cut off by a gust of air rippling across the long table as Aang turned and stormed out of the hall.

* * *

As it turned out, the random explosion had not been caused by the Avatar and his friends. Officer Line had returned after about twenty minutes, holding a fresh cup of coffee and looking incredibly worn out.

He sat down in his chair with a grunt, then spoke. “Well, the explosion was caused by some unauthorized person in the chemistry lab in Medbay. They somehow broke in there - Cracks-the-Cups was in the bar getting a drink at the time - and tried to mix something, and it blew up.” The lizardman was somehow yawning and scowling at the same time, which was quite intimidating to see.

Azula shuddered a bit - the thought of someone simply breaking into a dangerous area like Chemistry was quite terrifying. “Did you catch the person involved?”

“Nope, they were gone when we got there. One of the cameras had been cut so there was no footage, and like I said, no one was in the room. We searched the maintenance shafts behind there too, didn’t find anyone. They must have been quick.”

_ What? They just gave up? _

Kena clicked her tongue. “How bad was the explosion? Was there any serious damage?”

Officer Line shook his head. “Not bad, wasn’t much of a blast really - whatever the perp was mixing, there wasn’t a lot of it. There were a couple of injuries from broken glass, but nothing serious.”

“So you just stopped looking?” Azula was confused - why was the security officer acting like a random explosion wasn’t a big deal? 

“We didn’t have any good leads.” Line took a big sip of his dark coffee. “My guess is that one of the greytiders was trying to cook meth again, but who knows, really.”

“And you’re just ignoring this?” The princess was concerned now.

_ Shouldn’t they be taking this more seriously? What if it was something really dangerous and they didn’t know? _

The officer raised his eyebrows, and Azula felt Mori and Kena looking at her. Her breath stuttered momentarily. “No, kid, there’s such a thing as letting sleeping dogs lie, you know. There wasn’t any permanent damage, and it was obviously accidental, so there’s no need to tear the station apart over it.”

“But that’s not true - you can’t just assume that there’s not a problem!” Azula felt her chest tighten, tingles of hot energy running down her spine. “That’s your job, to protect everyone and keep the station under control!”

_ I need to be safe... _

“Azula, you need to calm down,” Mori said worriedly, but the words slipped past her - she was burning now, fire surging through her. She looked at her hands, breathing hard.

“I can’t! Not when you’re not even doing your job, Line! You’re not keeping everyone safe!” 

A heavy hand landed on Azula’s shoulder, and she winced. “Calm down, kid. Calm down.” The princess looked up to see two slitted gold eyes looking directly at her, and the fire that had been flaring in her chest and sparking on her fingertips went out like a shattered lightbulb.

_ You dare to insult me? To presume that you are better than I am? _

Azula drew in a shuddering breath. “I apologize, I should not have acted that way.” She quickly stood and turned to the door of her laboratory. 

_ I can’t… no… I made a mistake… I need to leave... _

“Where are you going? Azula?” Mori said.

“I… not now,” the princess gasped as she fled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It had to be done. Azula may be holding herself together well, but the plethora of issues she has aren't just going to disappear because she has a few good days in a new place. She's been trying to keep a perfect mask on, but facades always crack eventually, and Azula is going to need to learn to deal with those imperfections.
> 
> I personally headcanon that Toph would sympathize with Azula a lot - they've both suffered from being forced to conform to their parents' expectations, so Toph would definitely understand Azula's state of mind. I also think they would be very good friends, since they're both very powerful benders and have a similarly... chaotic sense of humor. 
> 
> I should also mention that though there are listed ships, these are part of the background - I'm very bad at writing anything that isn't gen, and this story isn't really about the Gaang or romance anyway, it's about Azula getting to live outside her father's shadow (and of course the completely unrelated madness that is Space Station 13). I'm also aware that these ships are EXTREMELY generic (they're literally the canon ones) but I personally like all the canon ships, and I really wasn't feeling up to trying to switch things up with my limited knowledge of ship writing. Though... who knows? Maybe I'll feel confident enough to throw something in there.
> 
> Oh, and speaking of madness... remember the "creatures in deep space that no one should ever have to know existed" that Officer Line mentioned? And the "powerful enemies of Nanotrasen?"
> 
> Please comment - I love talking to my readers! Ymg' mgr'luh ep yar!
> 
> EDIT: And happy (belated) International Women's Day! I only realized that I posted this chapter then the day after.

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be quite a test of my writing ability, I think. Hopefully it will also be entertaining. And understandable.
> 
> Most chapters are quite a bit longer than this first one, with actual dialogue and explanation. I have a lot of setting up and explaining to do here.


End file.
